Volunteers were made to feel as if they inhabited an image of their own body two metres away from where they were actually standing.

The trick was to synchronise a flashing bright outline surrounding the virtual image with participants' heartbeat, in real time.

This caused the volunteers to become strongly identified with their body double. Not only did the they perceive the image as "real" but they felt located in a different place, closer to the virtual body than the physical one.

Volunteers also experienced the sensation of touch some distance away from their physical body.

Study leader Dr Jane Aspell, senior lecturer in psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, hopes the research, published in the journal Psychological Science, may help people with psychological problems involving distorted self-perception such as anorexia nervosa.

"Patients with anorexia, have a disconnection from their own body. They look in the mirror and think they are larger than they actually are, " said Dr Aspell.

"This could help people 'reconnect' with their current appearance. It could help them realise what the 'real me' actually looks like."