Body Perception and Morphology in Augmented Reality
PhD research project
Doctoral research · Since 2024
Understanding how an augmented body can reshape self-perception, action, and embodiment while the physical world remains visible.
Abstract
Virtual Reality can replace a user’s visible body with an avatar, whereas Augmented Reality can preserve the view of the physical body while adding or substituting a modified virtual representation. This coexistence raises fundamental questions: can users embody the augmented body, how does it affect their perception of their physical body, and what happens when the two representations differ in shape or appearance?
The project investigates this distinctive form of embodied self-perception. It combines cognitive psychology, immersive-system development, and user studies to understand the mechanisms of identification, ownership, agency, and body representation in Augmented Reality. It also explores how controlled virtual body modifications could support research and future clinical protocols related to body image.
01
Alter the body
Introduce controlled changes in shape, appearance, or body parts while keeping the real environment in view.
02
Measure the shift
Observe ownership, agency, affordances, movement, and the perceived morphology of the physical body.
03
Inform design
Turn experimental evidence into principled, reproducible approaches for embodied AR experiences.
Research objectives
- Characterize embodiment in Augmented Reality — determine how embodiment mechanisms established in Virtual Reality change when the physical body and environment remain visible.
- Study dual body representation — examine how embodying a modified virtual body affects perception of the user’s physical or “initial” body, affordances, movement, and interaction capabilities.
- Design controlled body transformations — develop rendering and interaction techniques that make virtual modifications measurable, reproducible, and suitable for experimental studies.
- Explore health applications — evaluate how Augmented-Reality representations could complement fixed images and mirrors in research and future clinical work on body-image disturbances.
Methodology
The project combines a review of embodiment and body-perception research with experiments using Virtual- and Augmented-Reality headsets, immersive displays, motion capture, eye tracking, and other physiological measures. User studies compare different real–virtual body configurations and quantify their effects on embodiment and self-perception.
Health-related applications remain a longer-term research perspective. The work focuses on quantifying how modified body representations affect perception and on deriving design recommendations, without presuming clinical validation or therapeutic effectiveness.
People involved
PhD student
Marie-Cécile Léculier
Marie-Cécile combines cognitive psychology and immersive-system development to study altered body perception and affordances in Augmented Reality.
Academic supervision
Étienne Peillard
Contributes Augmented-Reality systems and methods for studying embodiment and affordances.
Research partners
The project connects the INUIT and COMMEDIA teams at Lab-STICC, creating a bridge between cognitive psychology, embodied interaction, and Augmented-Reality systems.
Publications
The first results of this project were published in ACM Transactions on Applied Perception and selected for presentation as an invited TAP paper at the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (SAP 2026).
Funding
This PhD is funded by the Institut Mines-Télécom through its Futur, Ruptures & Impacts doctoral research programme, formerly known as Futur & Ruptures. The Lab-STICC record for Marie-Cécile’s PhD identifies the project as part of the 2024 Futur & Ruptures call for IMT excellence doctoral theses.
Research stay at TU Wien
Doctoral mobility · May–July 2026
Vienna, AustriaResearch collaboration
Virtual and Augmented Reality Research Unit
Marie-Cécile completed a three-month research stay at TU Wien, hosted by Hugo Brument. The collaboration links the thesis with a leading XR research environment and its expertise in perception, interaction, and embodiment.
Hugo BrumentPostdoctoral researcher · TU Wienhugobrument.com
This research stay was carried out within the framework of EULiST — European Universities Linking Society and Technology, which brings together both Institut Mines-Télécom and TU Wien, as part of its 2026 short-term mobility opportunities for early-career researchers.
The mobility project extended the research from mirror-based body modifications to first-person Augmented-Reality representations applied directly to the body. It focused on the influence of viewpoint and localized modifications, particularly of the hand, on body perception, while exploring emerging Augmented-Reality devices and dynamic or multimodal interaction techniques.
