Beyond pure research, body swap illusions might put us in someone else’s shoes to increase our empathy towards them. Or they might be a useful therapy. An interesting finding of the invisibility illusion study was that participants were less socially anxious standing in front of an audience when under the illusion.
More broadly, however, the research shows how dependent we are on the brain’s interpretation of the world—and no matter how permanent or natural it feels—just how pliable that perspective can be.