Investigating Self-Body Perception and its Effect on Affordance in Augmented Reality

New augmented reality (AR) techniques enable increasingly advanced modifications of body representation. This representation and its control are crucial from a social perspective, with many studies focusing on body representation in medical contexts. In this paper, we propose a device that allows, in AR, the modification of the user's appearance by controlling the width of their body. We then conduct a user study to investigate the impact of this modification on body perception, specifically its perceived affordance. Additionally, we record the participant's internal perception (Sense of Embodiment, body-shape perception) to study their interaction with body perception. Our results show that this system can effectively modify the perceived affordances. They also highlight the strong variability of body perception and its interaction with several factors, such as Sense of Embodiment and initial body perception. This work contributes to expanding knowledge of body perception within the specific context of AR and provides significant perspectives for enriching the understanding and treatment of individuals suffering from body image misperception.