Out-of-body experiments show kids’ budding sense of self

Children as young as age 6 have body awareness needed to identify with avatar of themselves

child with VR

SEEING ME  A sense of being a self in one’s own body develops in phases over many years, beginning by age 6, a new study finds. Researchers studied kids and adults who felt a touch on their actual backs as they saw a virtual version of themselves touched on the back with a stick. Here, a 5-year-old girl models a virtual reality device used in the study.

D. Cowie

Kids can have virtual out-of-body experiences as early as age 6.