Body Perception and Morphology in Augmented Reality

PERCEMOA — Perception of the Body and its Morphology in Augmented Reality

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?

PERCEMOA investigates this distinctive form of embodied self-perception. The project 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.

Research objectives

1. Characterize embodiment in Augmented Reality — determine how embodiment mechanisms established in Virtual Reality change when the physical body and environment remain visible.
2. 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.
3. Design controlled body transformations — develop rendering and interaction techniques that make virtual modifications measurable, reproducible, and suitable for experimental studies.
4. 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 is a PhD student at IMT Atlantique, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, and Lab-STICC. Her background in cognitive psychology and immersive technologies supports the project’s combination of perceptual experiments and Augmented-Reality system development.

Academic supervision

The PhD is directed by Gilles Coppin at IMT Atlantique and co-supervised by Nathalie Le Bigot at Université de Bretagne Occidentale and Étienne Peillard. The project connects the INUIT and COMMEDIA teams at Lab-STICC.

Gilles Coppin

Gilles Coppin is Professor of Computer Science at IMT Atlantique and member of the INUIT team. His roles involve both teaching and conducting pioneering research, particularly in the areas of human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence

Nathalie Le Bigot

Nathalie Le Bigot is an Associate Professor in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Western Brittany (Université de Bretagne Occidentale) and a member of the Lab-STICC laboratory. Her research has focused on perception–action interactions, particularly in the context of virtual and augmented reality.

Etienne Peillard

Since August 1, 2026, I have been an Associate Professor in the Department of Automatic Control, Production Engineering and Computer Science (DAPI) at IMT Atlantique, on the Nantes campus. I am a member of the PACCE team at the LS2N (UMR CNRS 6004).

Publications

The first results of PERCEMOA 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

From May to July 2026, Marie-Cécile completed a three-month doctoral mobility at the Virtual and Augmented Reality Research Unit of TU Wien, hosted by Hugo Brument. 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 PERCEMOA 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.

Research environment

PERCEMOA draws on the immersive facilities of Lab-STICC and the European Center for Virtual Reality in Brest, including Virtual- and Augmented-Reality headsets, immersive displays, motion capture, eye tracking, and the CAVE. Experimental development also benefits from IMT Atlantique’s CEXI-HA platform for research on augmented-human interaction.