%A Yeh,Su-Ling %A Lane,Timothy Joseph %A Chang,An-Yi %A Chien,Sung-En %D 2017 %J Frontiers in Psychology %C %F %G English %K rubber hand illusion,task switch,executive functions,body ownership,attention control %Q %R 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02172 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2017-December-12 %9 Original Research %+ Su-Ling Yeh,Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University,Taiwan,suling@ntu.edu.tw %+ Su-Ling Yeh,Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University,Taiwan,suling@ntu.edu.tw %+ Su-Ling Yeh,Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University,Taiwan,suling@ntu.edu.tw %+ Timothy Joseph Lane,Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, Taipei Medical University,Taiwan,timlane@tmu.edu.tw %+ Timothy Joseph Lane,Research Center of Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University,Taiwan,timlane@tmu.edu.tw %+ Timothy Joseph Lane,Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University,Taiwan,timlane@tmu.edu.tw %+ Timothy Joseph Lane,Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica,Taiwan,timlane@tmu.edu.tw %+ Timothy Joseph Lane,Research Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning, National Chengchi University,Taiwan,timlane@tmu.edu.tw %# %! Switching to the rubber hand %* %< %T Switching to the Rubber Hand %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02172 %V 8 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-1078 %X Inducing the rubber hand illusion (RHI) requires that participants look at an imitation hand while it is stroked in synchrony with their occluded biological hand. Previous explanations of the RHI have emphasized multisensory integration, and excluded higher cognitive functions. We investigated the relationship between the RHI and higher cognitive functions by experimentally testing task switch (as measured by switch cost) and mind wandering (as measured by SART score); we also included a questionnaire for attentional control that comprises two subscales, attention-shift and attention-focus. To assess experience of RHI, the Botvinick and Cohen (1998) questionnaire was used and illusion onset time was recorded. Our results indicate that rapidity of onset reliably indicates illusion strength. Regression analysis revealed that participants evincing less switch cost and higher attention-shift scores had faster RHI onset times, and that those with higher attention-shift scores experienced the RHI more vividly. These results suggest that the multi-sensory hypothesis is not sufficient to explain the illusion: higher cognitive functions should be taken into account when explaining variation in the experience of ownership for the rubber hand.