My main research interest is focused on how the human experience of being a distinct entity is generated through multisensory integration.

I use  Immersive Virtual Reality to study under which conditions the boundaries of individuals get altered when they partially identify with and localise themselves in an avatar. Proceeding this way I want to investigate the relevance of the perception of one's boundaries for self-experience.

The generation of multimodal self-boundaries by sensory integration

Introduction

When the perceptual field of individuals is reorganized such that they can see the projection of their body [1] or an avatar within virtual reality [2] being simultaneously touched at the same location, where their physical body gets touched, they start to identify with and localize themselves towards that virtual body. The fundamental principle of multisensory integration is that information from different sensory modalities is merged by the brain such that coherent and robust percepts are formed [3]. Hence, the identification with and localization in a virtual body may be regarded as a result of this principle, which integrates tactile and visual information such that a coherent percept of oneself is generated. This principle of integration is at the same time a principle of differentiation. The formation of a perceptual unit that is oneself implicates the differentiation of this entity from everything that is not oneself, and thus the generation of the experience of being a distinct entity. In support of this we have found using a pharmacopsychological approach that changes in the experience of the boundaries of oneself go along with changes in the formation of visual percepts [4]. Thus, regarding the experimentally induced identification with a virtual body, the question arises what happens to self-demarcation. One option is that individuals experience themselves within the clear boundaries of the virtual body. However, another option is that felt and seen touch are integrated such that their boundaries include their physical body and the virtual body. Hence, in this case individuals would incorporate an avatar, because the boundaries of what they experience as “themselves” get altered.

Goal

Investigate in the framework of multiple experiments under which conditions individuals’ self-boundaries get altered when they identify themselves with a virtual body.

Method

Immersive Virtual Reality setups will be used in which healthy participants experience a virtual city (Virtual Tübingen). Within these setups in which participants view an avatar from different perspectives the effect of visuo-tactile integration and visuo-motor integration on the experience of embodiment, presence, face perception, and self-motion will be studied.

Status of overall project

A first project on the effect of self-localization on the perception of visually induced circular self-motion is almost finalized, and will soon be published.

References

1. Lenggenhager, B., Tadi, T., Metzinger, T., & Blanke, O. (2007). Video ergo sum: Manipulating bodily self-consciousness. Science, 317 (5841), 1096–1099.
2. Slater, M., Spanlang, B., Sanchez-Vives, M.V., & Blanke, O. (2010). First person experience of body transfer in virtual reality. PLoS ONE, 5 (5), 1-9.
3. Ernst, M.O. & Bülthoff, H.H. (2004). Merging the senses into a robust percept. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(4), 162-169.
4. Dobricki, M. (2009). Kinder der Relativität: Humanexperimentelle Untersuchungen zu Modulationen visueller Strukturen. [Children of relativity: Experimental studies on modulations of visual structures.] Berlin: SVH.

Education

2007     Doctorate at the University of Zurich

Dissertation: The perception of geometric optical illusions in different states of consciousness.

2003     Master of Science at the University of Zurich

Master thesis: The effect of psilocybin on cognitive functions and other psychological parameters.

Academic positions

2011 -            Postdoctoral research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics

2009 - 2011    Research fellow at the research station Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART

2007 - 2008    Postdoctoral research fellow at the department for psychopathology, University of Zurich

2007 - 2008    Research fellow at the department for applied psychology, University of Zurich

2006 - 2006    Research fellow at the department for applied cognitive psychology, University of Zurich

2004 - 2007    PhD candidate at the Psychologisches Institut für Beratung und Forschung (PSIN) in Zurich

Teaching experience

2006 - 2008    Lecturer at the University of Zurich

Grants

Fellowship for advanced researchers from the Swiss National Science Foundation

Selected publications

Dobricki, M. (2009). Kinder der Relativität: Humanexperimentelle Untersuchungen zu Modulationen visueller Strukturen. [Children of relativity: Experimental studies on modulations of visual structures.] Berlin: SVH.

Dobricki, M. (2009). Sensorische Deprivation. [Sensory deprivation.] In: J. Margraf & F. Müller-Spahn (Hrsg.), Pschyrembel. Psychiatrie, Klinische Psychologie, Psychotherapie. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Dobricki, M. (2011). Basic human values in the Swiss population and in a sample of farmers. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 70(3), 119-127.

Dobricki, M., Maercker, A., Komproe, I.H. & de Jong, J.T.V.M. (2010). Severe life events and Adjustment Disorders in 4 Postconflict Settings. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45 (1), 39-46.

Dobricki, M. & Dittrich, A. (2009). Relativity in Oneself: The role of mental age for the cognition of optical illusions. In: Book of Abstracts. 11th Congress of the Swiss Society of Psychology. Interactions: Real and Virtual. Neuchâtel, August 19-20.

Dobricki, M., Häne, M. & Läge, D. (2007). Multiple choice tests: Who passed the test and who didn’t? A new solution of an old problem. In: Book of Abstracts.10th Congress of the Swiss Society of Psychology: Differences, Diversity and Change. Zurich 2007.

Hasler, F., Dobricki, M., Grimberg, U. & Vollenweider, F.X. (2003). Cognitive and psychopathological aspects of the 5-HT2A model of experimental psychosis. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 17 (Suppl.), A44.