1
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Pamplona GSP, Giussani A, Salzmann L, Staempfli P, Schneller S, Gassert R, Ionta S. Neuro-cognitive effects of degraded visibility on illusory body ownership. Neuroimage 2024; 300:120870. [PMID: 39349148 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2024] [Revised: 09/18/2024] [Accepted: 09/24/2024] [Indexed: 10/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Based on visuo-tactile stimulation, the rubber hand illusion induces a sense of ownership for a dummy hand. Manipulating the visibility of the dummy hand during the stimulation influences cognitive aspects of the illusion, suggesting that the related brain activity may be influenced too. To test this, we analyzed brain activity (fMRI), subjective ratings, and skin conductance from 45 neurotypical participants undergoing a modified rubber hand illusion protocol where we manipulated the visibility (high, medium, and low) of a virtual hand, not the brush (virtual hand illusion; VHI). To further investigate the impact of visibility manipulations on VHI-related secondary effects (i.e. vicarious somatosensation), we recorded brain activity and skin conductance during a vicarious pain protocol (observation of painful stimulations of the virtual hand) that occurred after the VHI procedure. Results showed that, during both the VHI and vicarious pain periods, the activity of distinct visual, somatosensory, and motor brain regions was modulated by (i) visibility manipulations, (ii) coherence between visual and tactile stimulation, and (iii) time of visuo-tactile stimulation. Accordingly, embodiment-related subjective ratings of the perceived illusion were specifically influenced by visibility manipulations. These findings suggest that visibility modifications can impact the neural and cognitive effects of illusory body ownership, in that when visibility decreases the illusion is perceived as weaker and the brain activity in visual, motor, and somatosensory regions is overall lower. We interpret this evidence as a sign of the weight of vision on embodiment processes, in that the cortical and subjective aspects of illusory body ownership are weakened by a degradation of visual input during the induction of the illusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo S P Pamplona
- Sensory-Motor Laboratory (SeMoLa), Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital/Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Department of Ophthalmology/University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory (RELab), Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Amedeo Giussani
- Sensory-Motor Laboratory (SeMoLa), Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital/Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Department of Ophthalmology/University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Lena Salzmann
- Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory (RELab), Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Philipp Staempfli
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Clinic Zurich and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Schneller
- Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory (RELab), Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Roger Gassert
- Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory (RELab), Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Silvio Ionta
- Sensory-Motor Laboratory (SeMoLa), Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital/Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Department of Ophthalmology/University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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2
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Candia-Rivera D, Engelen T, Babo-Rebelo M, Salamone PC. Interoception, network physiology and the emergence of bodily self-awareness. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 165:105864. [PMID: 39208877 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2024] [Revised: 08/06/2024] [Accepted: 08/23/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
The interplay between the brain and interoceptive signals is key in maintaining internal balance and orchestrating neural dynamics, encompassing influences on perceptual and self-awareness. Central to this interplay is the differentiation between the external world, others and the self, a cornerstone in the construction of bodily self-awareness. This review synthesizes physiological and behavioral evidence illustrating how interoceptive signals can mediate or influence bodily self-awareness, by encompassing interactions with various sensory modalities. To deepen our understanding of the basis of bodily self-awareness, we propose a network physiology perspective. This approach explores complex neural computations across multiple nodes, shifting the focus from localized areas to large-scale neural networks. It examines how these networks operate in parallel with and adapt to changes in visceral activities. Within this framework, we propose to investigate physiological factors that disrupt bodily self-awareness, emphasizing the impact of interoceptive pathway disruptions, offering insights across several clinical contexts. This integrative perspective not only can enhance the accuracy of mental health assessments but also paves the way for targeted interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Candia-Rivera
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), CNRS UMR7225, INSERM U1127, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière AP-HP, Inria Paris, 75013, Paris, France.
| | - Tahnée Engelen
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, University of Jyväskylä, Mattilanniemi 6, Jyväskylä FI-40014, Finland
| | - Mariana Babo-Rebelo
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Paula C Salamone
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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3
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Beccherle M, Scandola M. How pain and body representations transform each other: A narrative review. J Neuropsychol 2024. [PMID: 39233655 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2024] [Indexed: 09/06/2024]
Abstract
Pain, as a multidimensional and subjective experience, intertwines with various aspects of body representation, involving sensory, affective and motivational components. This review explores the bidirectional relationship between pain and body representations, emphasizing the impact of the sense of ownership on pain perception, the transformative impact of pain on motor imagery, the effects associated with vicarious pain perception on body representations and the role of pain in the maintenance of body representations in specific clinical conditions. Literature indicates complex interactions between pain and body representations, with the sense of ownership inducing analgesic effects in some cases and hyperalgesia in others, contingent upon factors such as the appearance of the affected limb. Pain sensations inform the body on which actions might be executed without harm, and which are potentially dangerous. This information impacts on motor imagery too, showing reduced motor imagery and increased reaction times in tasks where motor imagery involves the painful body parts. Finally, contrary to the conventional view, according to which pain impairs body representation, evidence suggests that pain can serve as an informative somatosensory index, preserving or even enhancing the representation of the absent or affected body parts. This bidirectional relationship highlights the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the interplay between pain and body representations, offering insights into the adaptive nature of the central nervous system in response to perceived bodily states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maddalena Beccherle
- NPSY.Lab-VR, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Michele Scandola
- NPSY.Lab-VR, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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4
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Basile GA, Tatti E, Bertino S, Milardi D, Genovese G, Bruno A, Muscatello MRA, Ciurleo R, Cerasa A, Quartarone A, Cacciola A. Neuroanatomical correlates of peripersonal space: bridging the gap between perception, action, emotion and social cognition. Brain Struct Funct 2024; 229:1047-1072. [PMID: 38683211 PMCID: PMC11147881 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-024-02781-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Peripersonal space (PPS) is a construct referring to the portion of space immediately surrounding our bodies, where most of the interactions between the subject and the environment, including other individuals, take place. Decades of animal and human neuroscience research have revealed that the brain holds a separate representation of this region of space: this distinct spatial representation has evolved to ensure proper relevance to stimuli that are close to the body and prompt an appropriate behavioral response. The neural underpinnings of such construct have been thoroughly investigated by different generations of studies involving anatomical and electrophysiological investigations in animal models, and, recently, neuroimaging experiments in human subjects. Here, we provide a comprehensive anatomical overview of the anatomical circuitry underlying PPS representation in the human brain. Gathering evidence from multiple areas of research, we identified cortical and subcortical regions that are involved in specific aspects of PPS encoding.We show how these regions are part of segregated, yet integrated functional networks within the brain, which are in turn involved in higher-order integration of information. This wide-scale circuitry accounts for the relevance of PPS encoding in multiple brain functions, including not only motor planning and visuospatial attention but also emotional and social cognitive aspects. A complete characterization of these circuits may clarify the derangements of PPS representation observed in different neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianpaolo Antonio Basile
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
| | - Elisa Tatti
- Department of Molecular, Cellular & Biomedical Sciences, CUNY, School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10031, USA
| | - Salvatore Bertino
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Demetrio Milardi
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Antonio Bruno
- Psychiatry Unit, University Hospital "G. Martino", Messina, Italy
- Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Maria Rosaria Anna Muscatello
- Psychiatry Unit, University Hospital "G. Martino", Messina, Italy
- Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Antonio Cerasa
- S. Anna Institute, Crotone, Italy
- Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB), National Research Council of Italy, Messina, Italy
- Pharmacotechnology Documentation and Transfer Unit, Preclinical and Translational Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, Health Science and Nutrition, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy
| | | | - Alberto Cacciola
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
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5
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Rossi Sebastiano A, Poles K, Gualtiero S, Romeo M, Galigani M, Bruno V, Fossataro C, Garbarini F. Balancing the Senses: Electrophysiological Responses Reveal the Interplay between Somatosensory and Visual Processing During Body-Related Multisensory Conflict. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1397232024. [PMID: 38508711 PMCID: PMC11079966 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1397-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
In the study of bodily awareness, the predictive coding theory has revealed that our brain continuously modulates sensory experiences to integrate them into a unitary body representation. Indeed, during multisensory illusions (e.g., the rubber hand illusion, RHI), the synchronous stroking of the participant's concealed hand and a fake visible one creates a visuotactile conflict, generating a prediction error. Within the predictive coding framework, through sensory processing modulation, prediction errors are solved, inducing participants to feel as if touches originated from the fake hand, thus ascribing the fake hand to their own body. Here, we aimed to address sensory processing modulation under multisensory conflict, by disentangling somatosensory and visual stimuli processing that are intrinsically associated during the illusion induction. To this aim, we designed two EEG experiments, in which somatosensory- (SEPs; Experiment 1; N = 18; F = 10) and visual-evoked potentials (VEPs; Experiment 2; N = 18; F = 9) were recorded in human males and females following the RHI. Our results show that, in both experiments, ERP amplitude is significantly modulated in the illusion as compared with both control and baseline conditions, with a modality-dependent diametrical pattern showing decreased SEP amplitude and increased VEP amplitude. Importantly, both somatosensory and visual modulations occur in long-latency time windows previously associated with tactile and visual awareness, thus explaining the illusion of perceiving touch at the sight location. In conclusion, we describe a diametrical modulation of somatosensory and visual processing as the neural mechanism that allows maintaining a stable body representation, by restoring visuotactile congruency under the occurrence of multisensory conflicts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Karol Poles
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
| | - Stefano Gualtiero
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
| | - Marcella Romeo
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
- IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca 55100, Italy
| | - Mattia Galigani
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
| | - Valentina Bruno
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10124, Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), Turin 10124, Italy
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6
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Crucianelli L, Reader AT, Ehrsson HH. Subcortical contributions to the sense of body ownership. Brain 2024; 147:390-405. [PMID: 37847057 PMCID: PMC10834261 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The sense of body ownership (i.e. the feeling that our body or its parts belong to us) plays a key role in bodily self-consciousness and is believed to stem from multisensory integration. Experimental paradigms such as the rubber hand illusion have been developed to allow the controlled manipulation of body ownership in laboratory settings, providing effective tools for investigating malleability in the sense of body ownership and the boundaries that distinguish self from other. Neuroimaging studies of body ownership converge on the involvement of several cortical regions, including the premotor cortex and posterior parietal cortex. However, relatively less attention has been paid to subcortical structures that may also contribute to body ownership perception, such as the cerebellum and putamen. Here, on the basis of neuroimaging and neuropsychological observations, we provide an overview of relevant subcortical regions and consider their potential role in generating and maintaining a sense of ownership over the body. We also suggest novel avenues for future research targeting the role of subcortical regions in making sense of the body as our own.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Crucianelli
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4DQ, UK
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 171 65, Sweden
| | - Arran T Reader
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
| | - H Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 171 65, Sweden
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7
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Yamagata T, Ichikawa K, Mizutori S, Haruki Y, Ogawa K. Revisiting the relationship between illusory hand ownership induced by visuotactile synchrony and cardiac interoceptive accuracy. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17132. [PMID: 37816882 PMCID: PMC10564882 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43990-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Multisensory integration plays an important role in the experience of the bodily self. Recently, the relationship between exteroception and interoception has been actively debated. The first evidence was a report that the susceptibility of the sense of ownership over a fake hand (i.e., illusory hand ownership: IHO) in the typical rubber hand illusion is negatively modulated by the accuracy of the heartbeat perception (i.e., cardiac interoceptive accuracy: CIA). If reliable, this would suggest an antagonism between the exteroceptive and interoceptive cues underlying the bodily self. However, some inconsistent data have been reported, raising questions about the robustness of the initial evidence. To investigate this robustness, we estimated the extent of the modulatory effect of CIA on IHO susceptibility by applying Bayesian hierarchical modeling to two independent datasets. Overall, our results did not support that IHO susceptibility is modulated by CIA. The present estimates with high uncertainty cannot exclude the hypothesis that the relationship between IHO susceptibility and CIA is so weak as to be negligible. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to reach a conclusion about the extent of the modulatory effect. These findings highlight the lack of robustness of key evidence supporting the "antagonism hypothesis".
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Affiliation(s)
- Toyoki Yamagata
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan.
| | - Kaito Ichikawa
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Shogo Mizutori
- Department of Behavioral Science, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Yusuke Haruki
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Kenji Ogawa
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Kita 10, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan.
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8
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Castro F, Lenggenhager B, Zeller D, Pellegrino G, D'Alonzo M, Di Pino G. From rubber hands to neuroprosthetics: Neural correlates of embodiment. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105351. [PMID: 37544389 PMCID: PMC10582798 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2022] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Our interaction with the world rests on the knowledge that we are a body in space and time, which can interact with the environment. This awareness is usually referred to as sense of embodiment. For the good part of the past 30 years, the rubber hand illusion (RHI) has been a prime tool to study embodiment in healthy and people with a variety of clinical conditions. In this paper, we provide a critical overview of this research with a focus on the RHI paradigm as a tool to study prothesis embodiment in individuals with amputation. The RHI relies on well-documented multisensory integration mechanisms based on sensory precision, where parietal areas are involved in resolving the visuo-tactile conflict, and premotor areas in updating the conscious bodily representation. This mechanism may be transferable to prosthesis ownership in amputees. We discuss how these results might transfer to technological development of sensorised prostheses, which in turn might progress the acceptability by users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Castro
- Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, via Alvaro del Portillo 5, 00128 Rome, Italy; Institute of Sport, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom
| | - Bigna Lenggenhager
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Zeller
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 11, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Giovanni Pellegrino
- Epilepsy program, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Marco D'Alonzo
- Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, via Alvaro del Portillo 5, 00128 Rome, Italy.
| | - Giovanni Di Pino
- Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, via Alvaro del Portillo 5, 00128 Rome, Italy
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9
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Fischman L. Touching and being touched: where knowing and feeling meet. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1097402. [PMID: 37533722 PMCID: PMC10393247 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1097402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Philosophers maintain that touch confers a sense of reality or grounding to perceptual experience. In touching oneself, one is simultaneously both subject and object of touch, a template for experiencing oneself as subject and object of intentions, feelings, and motivations, or intersubjectivity. Here, I explore a form of self-touch carefully documented by Winnicott in observing how the infant engages the transitional object. I compare the processes of self-loss in transitional states, including absorption in art, empathic immersion, drug-induced ego dissolution, and depersonalization. I use examples drawn from Rodin, Dante, and the Beatles; research correlating neurophysiological findings with aspects of self-representation; predictive processing-based models; Hohwy's concepts of minimal and narrative self; Clark's notion of the extended mind; and phenomenological perspectives on touch, to postulate a role for self-touch in the pre-reflective sense of mine-ness, or grounding, in transitional states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lawrence Fischman
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA, United States
- Fluence, Woodstock, NY, United States
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10
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Sonobe Y, Yamagata T, Yang H, Haruki Y, Ogawa K. Supramodal Representation of the Sense of Body Ownership in the Human Parieto-Premotor and Extrastriate Cortices. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0332-22.2023. [PMID: 36657967 PMCID: PMC9927518 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0332-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2022] [Revised: 12/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The sense of body ownership, defined as the sensation that one's body belongs to oneself, is a fundamental component of bodily self-consciousness. Several studies have shown the importance of multisensory integration for the emergence of the sense of body ownership, together with the involvement of the parieto-premotor and extrastriate cortices in bodily awareness. However, whether the sense of body ownership elicited by different sources of signal, especially visuotactile and visuomotor inputs, is represented by common neural patterns remains to be elucidated. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the existence of neural correlates of the sense of body ownership independent of the sensory modalities. Participants received tactile stimulation or executed finger movements while given synchronous and asynchronous visual feedback of their hand. We used multivoxel patterns analysis (MVPA) to decode the synchronous and asynchronous conditions with cross-classification between two modalities: the classifier was first trained in the visuotactile sessions and then tested in the visuomotor sessions, and vice versa. Regions of interest (ROIs)-based and searchlight analyses revealed significant above-chance cross-classification accuracies in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS), the bilateral ventral premotor cortex (PMv), and the left extrastriate body area (EBA). Moreover, we observed a significant positive correlation between the cross-classification accuracy in the left PMv and the difference in subjective ratings of the sense of body ownership between the synchronous and asynchronous conditions. Our findings revealed the neural representations of the sense of body ownership in the IPS, PMv, and EBA that is invariant to the sensory modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Sonobe
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Toyoki Yamagata
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Huixiang Yang
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Yusuke Haruki
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Kenji Ogawa
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
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11
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Guo Y, Wu H, Dong D, Zhou F, Li Z, Zhao L, Long Z. Stress and the brain: Emotional support mediates the association between myelination in the right supramarginal gyrus and perceived chronic stress. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 22:100511. [PMID: 36632310 PMCID: PMC9826980 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Revised: 12/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceived stress, which refers to people's evaluation of a stressful event and their ability to cope with it, has emerged as a stable predictor for physical and mental health outcomes. Increasing evidence has suggested the buffering effect of social support on perceived stress. Although previous studies have investigated the brain structural features (e.g., gray matter volume) associated with perceived stress, less is known about the association between perceived chronic stress and intra-cortical myelin (ICM), which is an important microstructure of brain and is essential for healthy brain functions, and the role of social support in this association. Using a sample of 1076 healthy young adults drawn from the Human Connectome Project, we quantified the ICMby the contrast of T1w and T2w images and examined its association with perceived chronic stress during the last month and social support. Behavioral results showed that perceived chronic stress was negatively associated with both emotional support and instrumental support. Vertex-wise multiple regression analyses revealed that higher level of perceived chronic stress was significantly associated with lower ICM content of a cluster in the right supramarginal gyrus (rSMG). Interestingly, the emotional support, but not the instrumental support, significantly mediated the association of perceived chronic stress with ICM in the rSMG. Overall, the present study provides novel evidence for the cortical myelination of perceived chronic stress in humans and highlights the essential role of the rSMG in perceived chronic stress and emotional support.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiqun Guo
- School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China,School of Bioinformatics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China,Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, China,Corresponding author. School of Bioinformatics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 2, Chongwen Road, Nanan District, China.
| | - Huimin Wu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, China,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Debo Dong
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, China,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Feng Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, China,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Zhangyong Li
- School of Bioinformatics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China
| | - Le Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China
| | - Zhiliang Long
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, China,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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12
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Chancel M, Iriye H, Ehrsson HH. Causal Inference of Body Ownership in the Posterior Parietal Cortex. J Neurosci 2022; 42:7131-7143. [PMID: 35940875 PMCID: PMC9480881 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0656-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
How do we come to sense that a hand in view belongs to our own body or not? Previous studies have suggested that the integration of vision and somatosensation in the frontoparietal areas plays a critical role in the sense of body ownership (i.e., the multisensory perception of limbs and body parts as our own). However, little is known about how these areas implement the multisensory integration process at the computational level and whether activity predicts illusion elicitation in individual participants on a trial-by-trial basis. To address these questions, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a rubber hand illusion-detection task and fitted the registered neural responses to a Bayesian causal inference model of body ownership. Thirty healthy human participants (male and female) performed 12 s trials with varying degrees of asynchronously delivered visual and tactile stimuli of a rubber hand (in view) and a (hidden) real hand. After the 12 s period, participants had to judge whether the rubber hand felt like their own. As hypothesized, activity in the premotor and posterior parietal cortices was related to illusion elicitation at the level of individual participants and trials. Importantly, activity in the posterior parietal cortex fit the predicted probability of illusion emergence of the Bayesian causal inference model based on each participant's behavioral response profile. Our findings suggest an important role for the posterior parietal cortex in implementing Bayesian causal inference of body ownership and reveal how trial-by-trial variations in neural signatures of multisensory integration relate to the elicitation of the rubber hand illusion.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How does the brain create a coherent perceptual experience of one's own body based on information from the different senses? We examined how the likelihood of eliciting a classical bodily illusion that depends on vision and touch-the rubber hand illusion-is related to neural activity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that trial-by-trial variations in the neural signal in the posterior parietal cortex, a well known center for sensory integration, fitted a statistical function that describes how likely it is that the brain infers that a rubber hand is one's own given the available visual and tactile evidence. Thus, probabilistic analysis of sensory information in the parietal lobe underlies our unitary sense of bodily self.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Chancel
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Heather Iriye
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - H Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden
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13
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Candini M, Fossataro C, Pia L, Vezzadini G, Gindri P, Galigani M, Berti A, Frassinetti F, Garbarini F. Bodily self‐recognition in patients with pathological embodiment. J Neurosci Res 2022; 100:1987-2003. [PMID: 35869668 PMCID: PMC9544620 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michela Candini
- BOOST PERCEPTION Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Bologna Bologna Italy
- Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes IRCCS of Castel Goffredo Mantova Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- SAMBA Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Lorenzo Pia
- SAMBA Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT) University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Giuliana Vezzadini
- Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes IRCCS of Castel Goffredo Mantova Italy
| | | | - Mattia Galigani
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Anna Berti
- SAMBA Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT) University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Francesca Frassinetti
- BOOST PERCEPTION Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Bologna Bologna Italy
- Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes IRCCS of Castel Goffredo Mantova Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT) University of Turin Turin Italy
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14
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Slater M, Ehrsson HH. Multisensory Integration Dominates Hypnotisability and Expectations in the Rubber Hand Illusion. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:834492. [PMID: 35782045 PMCID: PMC9244625 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.834492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Some recent papers by P. Lush and colleagues have argued that the rubber hand illusion (RHI), where participants can feel a rubber hand as their own under appropriate multisensory stimulation, may be caused mainly by hypnotic suggestibility and expectations (demand characteristics). These papers rely primarily on a study with 353 participants who took part in a RHI experiment carried out in a classical way with brush stroking. Participants experienced a synchronous condition where the rubber hand was seen to be touched in synchrony with touch felt on their corresponding hidden real hand, or the touches were applied asynchronously as a control. Each participant had a related measure of their hypnotisability on a scale known as the Sussex-Waterloo Scale of Hypnotisability (SWASH). The authors found a correlation between the questionnaire ratings of the RHI in the synchronous condition and the SWASH score. From this, they concluded that the RHI is largely driven by suggestibility and further proposed that suggestibility and expectations may even entirely explain the RHI. Here we examine their claims in a series of extensive new analyses of their data. We find that at every level of SWASH, the synchronous stimulation results in greater levels of the illusion than the asynchronous condition; moreover, proprioceptive drift is greater in the synchronous case at every level of SWASH. Thus, while the level of hypnotisability does modestly influence the subjective reports (higher SWASH is associated with somewhat higher illusion ratings), the major difference between the synchronous and asynchronous stimulation is always present. Furthermore, by including in the model the participants' expectancy ratings of how strongly they initially believed they would experience the RHI in the two conditions, we show that expectations had a very small effect on the illusion ratings; model comparisons further demonstrate that the multisensory condition is two-to-three-times as dominant as the other factors, with hypnotisability contributing modestly and expectations negligibly. Thus, although the results indicate that trait suggestibility may modulate the RHI, presumably through intersubject variations in top-down factors, the findings also suggest that the primary explanation for the RHI is as a multisensory bodily illusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mel Slater
- Event Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H. Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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15
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Salgado-Pineda P, Fuentes-Claramonte P, Spanlang B, Pomes A, Landin-Romero R, Portillo F, Bosque C, Franquelo JC, Teixido C, Sarró S, Salvador R, Pomarol-Clotet E. Neural correlates of disturbance in the sense of agency in schizophrenia: An fMRI study using the 'enfacement' paradigm. Schizophr Res 2022; 243:395-401. [PMID: 34218983 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2021.06.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
An altered sense of self-awareness and agency has been proposed to underlie symptoms of schizophrenia. In this study, we used the enfacement illusion paradigm - in which perception of another person's face leads to changes in perception of one's own peri-personal space - to examine the brain correlates of the sense of agency and its potential disruption in schizophrenia. Thirty-three schizophrenic patients and 27 healthy controls underwent fMRI scanning during performance of a task designed to elicit the enfacement illusion. Activations were examined using whole-brain analysis and also in an a priori identified region of interest (ROI) in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), a region that has been described as involved in self/other differentiation and sense of agency. Both groups showed a pattern of cortical activation involving the pre and postcentral cortex, Rolandic operculum, insula, parietal, temporal and occipital cortex bilaterally as well as TPJ (but only right-side in patients). Examination of the TPJ ROI revealed significantly reduced activation on the left in the patients that was associated with poorer insight. The findings suggest brain functional abnormality in schizophrenia related to the formation or maintenance of processes related to self and/or agency. Decreased function in the TPJ may have a role in the impaired insight seen in patients with the disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pilar Salgado-Pineda
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain.
| | - P Fuentes-Claramonte
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Bernhard Spanlang
- Event Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience of the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Virtual Bodyworks S.L., Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ausias Pomes
- Event Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Accenture, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ramón Landin-Romero
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; The University of Sydney, Brain & Mind Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney,NSW, Australia
| | | | - Clara Bosque
- Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Cristina Teixido
- Hospital Mare de Dèu de la Mercé, Unitat Polivalent Barcelona Nord, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Salvador Sarró
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Raymond Salvador
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Edith Pomarol-Clotet
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
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16
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Fourcade A, Schmidt TT, Nierhaus T, Blankenburg F. Enhanced processing of aversive stimuli on embodied artificial limbs by the human amygdala. Sci Rep 2022; 12:5778. [PMID: 35388047 PMCID: PMC8986852 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09603-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Body perception has been extensively investigated, with one particular focus being the integration of vision and touch within a neuronal body representation. Previous studies have implicated a distributed network comprising the extrastriate body area (EBA), posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and ventral premotor cortex (PMv) during illusory self-attribution of a rubber hand. Here, we set up an fMRI paradigm in virtual reality (VR) to study whether and how the self-attribution of (artificial) body parts is altered if these body parts are somehow threatened. Participants (N = 30) saw a spider (aversive stimulus) or a toy-car (neutral stimulus) moving along a 3D-rendered virtual forearm positioned like their real forearm, while tactile stimulation was applied on the real arm in the same (congruent) or opposite (incongruent) direction. We found that the PPC was more activated during congruent stimulation; higher visual areas and the anterior insula (aIns) showed increased activation during aversive stimulus presentation; and the amygdala was more strongly activated for aversive stimuli when there was stronger multisensory integration of body-related information (interaction of aversiveness and congruency). Together, these findings suggest an enhanced processing of aversive stimuli within the amygdala when they represent a bodily threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonin Fourcade
- Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. .,Max Planck School of Cognition, Stephanstrasse 1a, Leipzig, Germany. .,Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. .,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Timo Torsten Schmidt
- Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Till Nierhaus
- Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Felix Blankenburg
- Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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17
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Errante A, Rossi Sebastiano A, Ziccarelli S, Bruno V, Rozzi S, Pia L, Fogassi L, Garbarini F. Structural connectivity associated with the sense of body ownership: a diffusion tensor imaging and disconnection study in patients with bodily awareness disorder. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac032. [PMID: 35233523 PMCID: PMC8882004 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Revised: 12/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain mechanisms underlying the emergence of a normal sense of body ownership can be investigated starting from pathological conditions in which body awareness is selectively impaired. Here, we focused on pathological embodiment, a body ownership disturbance observed in brain-damaged patients who misidentify other people’s limbs as their own. We investigated whether such body ownership disturbance can be classified as a disconnection syndrome, using three different approaches based on diffusion tensor imaging: (i) reconstruction of disconnectome maps in a large sample (N = 70) of stroke patients with and without pathological embodiment; (ii) probabilistic tractography, performed on the age-matched healthy controls (N = 16), to trace cortical connections potentially interrupted in patients with pathological embodiment and spared in patients without this pathological condition; (iii) probabilistic ‘in vivo’ tractography on two patients without and one patient with pathological embodiment. The converging results revealed the arcuate fasciculus and the third branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus as mainly involved fibre tracts in patients showing pathological embodiment, suggesting that this condition could be related to the disconnection between frontal, parietal and temporal areas. This evidence raises the possibility of a ventral self-body recognition route including regions where visual (computed in occipito-temporal areas) and sensorimotor (stored in premotor and parietal areas) body representations are integrated, giving rise to a normal sense of body ownership.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonino Errante
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | | | - Settimio Ziccarelli
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | - Valentina Bruno
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10123, Italy
| | - Stefano Rozzi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Pia
- SAMBA Research Group, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10123, Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), Turin 10123, Italy
| | - Leonardo Fogassi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10123, Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), Turin 10123, Italy
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18
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Ataka K, Sudo T, Otaki R, Suzuki E, Izumi SI. Decreased Tactile Sensitivity Induced by Disownership: An Observational Study Utilizing the Rubber Hand Illusion. Front Syst Neurosci 2022; 15:802148. [PMID: 35126063 PMCID: PMC8811498 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.802148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The sense of body ownership, the feeling that one’s own body belongs to oneself, is generated from the integration of visual, tactile, and proprioceptive information. However, long-term non-use of parts of the body due to physical dysfunction caused by trauma or illness may disturb multisensory integration, resulting in a decreased sense of body ownership. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is an experimental method of manipulating the sense of ownership (SoO). In this illusion, subjects feel as if the rubber hand in front of them were their own hand. The RHI elicits the disownership phenomenon; not only does the rubber hand feels like one’s own hand, but one’s own hand does not feel like one’s own hand. The decrease of ownership of one’s own body induced by the bodily illusion is accompanied by neurophysiological changes, such as attenuation of somatosensory evoked potential and decreases in skin temperature. If the loss of the SoO is associated with decreased neurophysiological function, the dysfunction of patients complaining of the loss of ownership can be exacerbated; appropriate rehabilitation prescriptions are urgently required. The present study attempted to induce a sense of disownership of subjects’ own hands using the RHI and investigated whether the tactile sensitivity threshold was altered by disownership. Via questionnaire, subjects reported a decrease of ownership after the RHI manipulation; at the same time, tactile sensitivity thresholds were shown to increase in tactile evaluation using the Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments test. The tactile detection rate changes before and after the RHI were negatively correlated with the disownership-score changes. These results show that subjects’ sense of disownership, that their own hands did not belong to them, led to decreases in tactile sensitivity. The study findings also suggest that manipulating of illusory ownership can be a tool for estimating the degree of exacerbation of sensory impairment in patients. Consideration of new interventions that optimize the sense of body ownership may contribute to new rehabilitation strategies for post-stroke sensory impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kota Ataka
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan
| | - Tamami Sudo
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Graduate School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- *Correspondence: Tamami Sudo,
| | - Ryoji Otaki
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Rehabilitation, Yamagata Saisei Hospital, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Eizaburo Suzuki
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Physical Therapy, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Yamagata, Japan
| | - Shin-Ichi Izumi
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Sendai, Japan
- Shin-Ichi Izumi,
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19
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Nilsson M, Kalckert A. Region-of-interest analysis approaches in neuroimaging studies of body ownership: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:7974-7988. [PMID: 34796572 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
How do we feel that we own our body? By manipulating the integration of multisensory signals and creating the illusory experience of owning external body parts and entire bodies, researchers have investigated the neurofunctional correlates of body ownership. Recent attempts to synthesize the neuroimaging literature of body ownership through meta-analysis have shown partly inconsistent results. A large proportion of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings on body ownership include analyses based on regions of interest (ROIs). This approach can produce inflated findings when results are synthesized in meta-analyses. We conducted a systematic search of the fMRI literature of ownership of body parts and entire bodies. Three activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were conducted, testing the impact of including ROI-based findings. When both whole-brain and ROI-based results were included, frontal and posterior parietal multisensory areas were associated with body ownership. When only ROI-based results were included, larger areas of the frontal and posterior parietal cortices and the middle occipital gyrus were associated with body ownership. A whole-brain meta-analysis, excluding ROI-based results, found no significant convergence of activation across the brain. These findings highlight the difficulty of quantitatively synthesizing a neuroimaging field where a large part of the literature is based on findings from ROI-based analyses. We discuss these findings in the light of current practices within this field of research and highlight current problems of meta-analytic approaches of body ownership. We recommend the sharing of unthresholded data as a means to facilitate future meta-analyses of the neuroimaging literature of body ownership.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Nilsson
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, Institute of Bioscience, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden
| | - Andreas Kalckert
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, Institute of Bioscience, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden
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20
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Rossi Sebastiano A, Bruno V, Ronga I, Fossataro C, Galigani M, Neppi-Modona M, Garbarini F. Diametrical modulation of tactile and visual perceptual thresholds during the rubber hand illusion: a predictive coding account. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1830-1846. [PMID: 34773491 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01608-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
During the rubber hand illusion (RHI), the synchronous stroking of the participants' concealed hand and a visible rubber hand induces a conflict among visuo-tactile inputs, leading healthy subjects to perceive the illusion of being touched on the rubber hand, as if it were part of their body. The predictive coding theory suggests that the RHI emerges to settle the conflict, attenuating somatosensory inputs in favour of visual ones, which "capture" tactile sensations. Here, we employed the psychophysical measure of perceptual threshold to measure a behavioural correlate of the somatosensory and visual modulations, to better understand the mechanisms underpinning the illusion. Before and after the RHI, participants underwent a tactile (Experiment 1) and a visual (Experiment 2) task, wherein they had to detect stimuli slightly above the perceptual threshold. According to the predictive coding framework, we found a significant decrease of tactile detection (i.e. increased tactile perceptual threshold) and a significant increase of visual detection (i.e. decreased visual perceptual threshold), suggesting a diametrical modulation of somatosensory and visual perceptual processes. These findings provide evidence of how our system plastically adapts to uncertainty, attributing different weights to sensory inputs to restore a coherent representation of the own body.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Rossi Sebastiano
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Valentina Bruno
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Irene Ronga
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Mattia Galigani
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Neppi-Modona
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy. .,NIT, Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Turin, Italy.
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21
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Precision control for a flexible body representation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 134:104401. [PMID: 34736884 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Revised: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive body representation requires the continuous integration of multisensory inputs within a flexible 'body model' in the brain. The present review evaluates the idea that this flexibility is augmented by the contextual modulation of sensory processing 'top-down'; which can be described as precision control within predictive coding formulations of Bayesian inference. Specifically, I focus on the proposal that an attenuation of proprioception may facilitate the integration of conflicting visual and proprioceptive bodily cues. Firstly, I review empirical work suggesting that the processing of visual vs proprioceptive body position information can be contextualised 'top-down'; for instance, by adopting specific attentional task sets. Building up on this, I review research showing a similar contextualisation of visual vs proprioceptive information processing in the rubber hand illusion and in visuomotor adaptation. Together, the reviewed literature suggests that proprioception, despite its indisputable importance for body perception and action control, can be attenuated top-down (through precision control) to facilitate the contextual adaptation of the brain's body model to novel visual feedback.
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22
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Bao W, Gao Y, Cao L, Li H, Liu J, Liang K, Hu X, Zhang L, Hu X, Gong Q, Huang X. Alterations in large-scale functional networks in adult posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of resting-state functional connectivity studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:1027-1036. [PMID: 34688728 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with dysfunction in large-scale brain functional networks, as revealed by resting-state functional connectivity studies. However, it remains unclear which networks have been most consistently affected and, more importantly, what role disease and trauma may play in the disrupted functional networks. We performed a systematic review of studies exploring network alterations using seed-based functional connectivity analysis, comparing individuals with PTSD to controls in general as well as trauma-exposed or nonexposed controls specifically, and quantitative meta-analysis was conducted when the number of studies was appropriately high. We found that hypoconnectivity within the default-mode network (DMN) as well as between the affective network (AN) and DMN were specifically associated with traumatic experience. Additionally, hyperconnectivity between the AN and somatomotor network (SMN) and between the DMN and SMN were specifically related to PTSD. Our results emphasize the effect of trauma itself on alterations in intrinsic brain networks and highlight disease-associated network alterations, which may help us better understand the neural mechanisms of trauma and PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weijie Bao
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Yingxue Gao
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Lingxiao Cao
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Hailong Li
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Kaili Liang
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Xinyue Hu
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Lianqing Zhang
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Xinyu Hu
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Qiyong Gong
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Psychoradiology Research Unit of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2018RU011), West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Xiaoqi Huang
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Psychoradiology Research Unit of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2018RU011), West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
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23
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Della Longa L, Mento G, Farroni T. The Development of a Flexible Bodily Representation: Behavioral Outcomes and Brain Oscillatory Activity During the Rubber Hand Illusion in Preterm and Full-Term School-Age Children. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:702449. [PMID: 34594191 PMCID: PMC8476838 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.702449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
During childhood, the body undergoes rapid changes suggesting the need to constantly update body representation based on the integration of multisensory signals. Sensory experiences in critical periods of early development may have a significant impact on the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning the development of the sense of one’s own body. Specifically, preterm children are at risk for sensory processing difficulties, which may lead to specific vulnerability in binding together sensory information in order to modulate the representation of the bodily self. The present study aims to investigate the malleability of body ownership in preterm (N = 21) and full-term (N = 19) school-age children, as reflected by sensitivity to the Rubber Hand Illusion. The results revealed that multisensory processes underlying the ability to identify a rubber hand as being part of one’s own body are already established in childhood, as indicated by a higher subjective feeling of embodiment over the rubber hand during synchronous visual-tactile stimulation. Notably, the effect of visual-tactile synchrony was related to the suppression of the alpha band oscillations over frontal, central, and parietal scalp regions, possibly indicating a greater activation of somatosensory and associative areas underpinning the illusory body ownership. Moreover, an interaction effect between visual-tactile condition and group emerged, suggesting that preterm children showed a greater suppression of alpha oscillatory activity during the illusion. This result together with lower scores of subjective embodiment over the rubber hand reported by preterm children indicate that preterm birth may affect the development of the flexible representation of the body. These findings provide an essential contribution to better understand the processes of identification and differentiation of the bodily self from the external environment, in both full-term and preterm children, paving the way for a multisensory and embodied approach to the investigation of social and cognitive development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Letizia Della Longa
- Developmental Psychology and Socialization Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Giovanni Mento
- General Psychology Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.,PNC Padua Neuroscience Centre, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Teresa Farroni
- Developmental Psychology and Socialization Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.,PNC Padua Neuroscience Centre, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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24
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Litwin P, Miłkowski M. Unification by Fiat: Arrested Development of Predictive Processing. Cogn Sci 2021; 44:e12867. [PMID: 32594580 PMCID: PMC7378938 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 04/25/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Predictive processing (PP) has been repeatedly presented as a unificatory account of perception, action, and cognition. In this paper, we argue that this is premature: As a unifying theory, PP fails to deliver general, simple, homogeneous, and systematic explanations. By examining its current trajectory of development, we conclude that PP remains only loosely connected both to its computational framework and to its hypothetical biological underpinnings, which makes its fundamentals unclear. Instead of offering explanations that refer to the same set of principles, we observe systematic equivocations in PP‐based models, or outright contradictions with its avowed principles. To make matters worse, PP‐based models are seldom empirically validated, and they are frequently offered as mere just‐so stories. The large number of PP‐based models is thus not evidence of theoretical progress in unifying perception, action, and cognition. On the contrary, we maintain that the gap between theory and its biological and computational bases contributes to the arrested development of PP as a unificatory theory. Thus, we urge the defenders of PP to focus on its critical problems instead of offering mere re‐descriptions of known phenomena, and to validate their models against possible alternative explanations that stem from different theoretical assumptions. Otherwise, PP will ultimately fail as a unified theory of cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Litwin
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw.,Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
| | - Marcin Miłkowski
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
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25
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De Coster L, Sánchez-Herrero P, López-Moreno J, Tajadura-Jiménez A. Use of a real-life practical context changes the relationship between implicit body representations and real body measurements. Sci Rep 2021; 11:14451. [PMID: 34262115 PMCID: PMC8280174 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93865-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
A mismatch exists between people's mental representations of their own body and their real body measurements, which may impact general well-being and health. We investigated whether this mismatch is reduced when contextualizing body size estimation in a real-life scenario. Using a reverse correlation paradigm, we constructed unbiased, data-driven visual depictions of participants' implicit body representations. Across three conditions-own abstract, ideal, and own concrete body-participants selected the body that looked most like their own, like the body they would like to have, or like the body they would use for online shopping. In the own concrete condition only, we found a significant correlation between perceived and real hip width, suggesting that the perceived/real body match only exists when body size estimation takes place in a practical context, although the negative correlation indicated inaccurate estimation. Further, participants who underestimated their body size or who had more negative attitudes towards their body weight showed a positive correlation between perceived and real body size in the own abstract condition. Finally, our results indicated that different body areas were implicated in the different conditions. These findings suggest that implicit body representations depend on situational and individual differences, which has clinical and practical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lize De Coster
- DEI Interactive Systems Group, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenida de la Universidad 30, Leganés, 28911, Spain.
| | | | - Jorge López-Moreno
- Seddi Labs, Madrid, Spain
- Multimodal Simulation Lab, Department of Computer Science and Architecture, Computer Systems and Languages, Statistics and Operative Investigation, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ana Tajadura-Jiménez
- DEI Interactive Systems Group, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenida de la Universidad 30, Leganés, 28911, Spain
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26
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Limanowski J, Friston K. Attentional Modulation of Vision Versus Proprioception During Action. Cereb Cortex 2021; 30:1637-1648. [PMID: 31670769 PMCID: PMC7132949 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2019] [Revised: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 07/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
To control our actions efficiently, our brain represents our body based on a combination of visual and proprioceptive cues, weighted according to how (un)reliable—how precise—each respective modality is in a given context. However, perceptual experiments in other modalities suggest that the weights assigned to sensory cues are also modulated “top-down” by attention. Here, we asked whether during action, attention can likewise modulate the weights (i.e., precision) assigned to visual versus proprioceptive information about body position. Participants controlled a virtual hand (VH) via a data glove, matching either the VH or their (unseen) real hand (RH) movements to a target, and thus adopting a ``visual'' or ``proprioceptive'' attentional set, under varying levels of visuo-proprioceptive congruence and visibility. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed increased activation of the multisensory superior parietal lobe (SPL) during the VH task and increased activation of the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) during the RH task. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) showed that these activity changes were the result of selective, diametrical gain modulations in the primary visual cortex (V1) and the S2. These results suggest that endogenous attention can balance the gain of visual versus proprioceptive brain areas, thus contextualizing their influence on multisensory areas representing the body for action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakub Limanowski
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
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27
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Wada M, Takano K, Ide M, Sano Y, Shinoda Y, Furuichi T, Kansaku K. Task-Related c-Fos Expression in the Posterior Parietal Cortex During the "Rubber Tail Task" Is Diminished in Ca 2+-Dependent Activator Protein for Secretion 2 ( Caps2)-Knockout Mice. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:680206. [PMID: 34177481 PMCID: PMC8222529 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.680206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Rubber hand illusion (RHI), a kind of body ownership illusion, is sometimes atypical in individuals with autism spectrum disorder; however, the brain regions associated with the illusion are still unclear. We previously reported that mice responded as if their own tails were being touched when rubber tails were grasped following synchronous stroking to rubber tails and their tails (a "rubber tail illusion", RTI), which is a task based on the human RHI; furthermore, we reported that the RTI response was diminished in Ca2+-dependent activator protein for secretion 2-knockout (Caps2-KO) mice that exhibit autistic-like phenotypes. Importance of the posterior parietal cortex in the formation of illusory perception has previously been reported in human imaging studies. However, the local neural circuits and cell properties associated with this process are not clear. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate the neural basis of the RTI response and its impairment by investigating the c-Fos expression in both wild-type (WT) and Caps2-KO mice during the task since the c-Fos expression occurred soon after the neural activation. Immediately following the delivery of the synchronous stroking to both rubber tails and actual tails, the mice were perfused. Subsequently, whole brains were cryo-sectioned, and each section was immunostained with anti-c-Fos antibody; finally, c-Fos positive cell densities among the groups were compared. The c-Fos expression in the posterior parietal cortex was significantly lower in the Caps2-KO mice than in the WT mice. Additionally, we compared the c-Fos expression in the WT mice between synchronous and asynchronous conditions and found that the c-Fos-positive cell densities were significantly higher in the claustrum and primary somatosensory cortex of the WT mice exposed to the synchronous condition than those exposed to the asynchronous condition. Hence, the results suggest that decreased c-Fos expression in the posterior parietal cortex may be related to impaired multisensory integrations in Caps2-KO mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makoto Wada
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
| | - Kouji Takano
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
| | - Masakazu Ide
- Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
| | - Yoshitake Sano
- Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Japan
| | - Yo Shinoda
- Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Japan.,Department of Environmental Health, School of Pharmacy, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Japan
| | - Teiichi Furuichi
- Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Japan
| | - Kenji Kansaku
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan.,Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University, Mibu, Japan.,Center for Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Japan
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28
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Moayedi M, Noroozbahari N, Hadjis G, Themelis K, Salomons TV, Newport R, S. Lewis J. The structural and functional connectivity neural underpinnings of body image. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:3608-3619. [PMID: 33960581 PMCID: PMC8249883 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
How we perceive our bodies is fundamental to our self-consciousness and our experience in the world. There are two types of interrelated internal body representations-a subjective experience of the position of a limb in space (body schema) and the subjective experience of the shape and size of the limb (body image). Body schema has been extensively studied, but there is no evidence of the brain structure and network dynamics underpinning body image. Here, we provide the first evidence for the extrastriate body area (EBA), a multisensory brain area, as the structural and functional neural substrate for body shape and size. We performed a multisensory finger-stretch illusion that elongated the index finger. EBA volume and functional connectivity to the posterior parietal cortex are both related to the participants' susceptibility to the illusion. Taken together, these data suggest that EBA structure and connectivity encode body representation and body perception disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massieh Moayedi
- Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of DentistryUniversity of TorontoTorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Nasim Noroozbahari
- Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of DentistryUniversity of TorontoTorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Georgia Hadjis
- Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of DentistryUniversity of TorontoTorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Kristy Themelis
- School of PsychologyUniversity of NottinghamNottinghamUK,Department of PsychologyUniversity of WarwickCoventryUK
| | - Tim V. Salomons
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language SciencesUniversity of ReadingReadingUK,Department of PsychologyQueen's University, KingstonOntarioCanada
| | - Roger Newport
- School of PsychologyUniversity of NottinghamNottinghamUK,School of Sport, Exercise and Health SciencesLoughborough UniversityLoughboroughUK
| | - Jennifer S. Lewis
- CRPS/CCLER Service, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS TrustBath,School of Health and Social Wellbeing, Faculty of Health and Applied SciencesGlenside Campus, University of the West of EnglandBristol
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29
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Turco CV, Toepp SL, Foglia SD, Dans PW, Nelson AJ. Association of short- and long-latency afferent inhibition with human behavior. Clin Neurophysiol 2021; 132:1462-1480. [PMID: 34030051 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.02.402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2020] [Revised: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) paired with nerve stimulation evokes short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) and long-latency afferent inhibition (LAI), which are non-invasive assessments of the excitability of the sensorimotor system. SAI and LAI are abnormally reduced in various special populations in comparison to healthy controls. However, the relationship between afferent inhibition and human behavior remains unclear. The purpose of this review is to survey the current literature and synthesize observations and patterns that affect the interpretation of SAI and LAI in the context of human behavior. We discuss human behaviour across the motor and cognitive domains, and in special and control populations. Further, we discuss future considerations for research in this field and the potential for clinical applications. By understanding how human behavior is mediated by changes in SAI and LAI, this can allow us to better understand the neurophysiological underpinnings of human motor control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia V Turco
- Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
| | - Stephen L Toepp
- Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
| | - Stevie D Foglia
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
| | - Patrick W Dans
- Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
| | - Aimee J Nelson
- Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
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30
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Connectivity Analysis during Rubber Hand Illusion-A Pilot TMS-EEG Study in a Patient with SCI. Neural Plast 2021; 2021:6695530. [PMID: 33628223 PMCID: PMC7884106 DOI: 10.1155/2021/6695530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Revised: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Bodily self-perception is an important concept for several neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury (SCI). Changing one's bodily self-perception, e.g., via rubber hand illusion (RHI), induces alterations of bottom-up and top-down pathways and with this the connectivity between involved brain areas. We aim to examine whether (1) this process can be manipulated by changing cortical excitability, (2) connectivity between relevant brain areas differ when the RHI cannot be evoked, and (3) how this projection differs in a patient with SCI. Method We applied RHI and facilitatory theta burst stimulation (TBS) on the right primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of 18 healthy participants and one patient with incomplete, cervical SCI. During RHI, we recorded high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) and extracted directed and nondirected connectivity measures. Results There is no difference in connectivity between sham and real TBS or in the effectivity of RHI. We observed a higher laterality in the patient, i.e., higher connectivity of the right and lower of the left hemisphere. Besides this, connectivity patterns do not differ between healthy participants and the patient. Conclusion This connectivity pattern might represent a neuroplastic response in the attempt to overcome the functional impairment of the patient resulting in a similar overall connectivity pattern to the healthy participants, yet with a higher sensitivity towards RHI and a higher laterality. The cortico-cortical communication was not altered depending on whether the illusion was provoked or not; hence, the perceptory illusion could not be observed in the EEG analysis.
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31
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Pyasik M, Ronga I, Burin D, Salatino A, Sarasso P, Garbarini F, Ricci R, Pia L. I'm a believer: Illusory self-generated touch elicits sensory attenuation and somatosensory evoked potentials similar to the real self-touch. Neuroimage 2021; 229:117727. [PMID: 33434613 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Revised: 12/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensory attenuation (i.e., the phenomenon whereby self-produced sensations are perceived as less intense compared to externally occurring ones) is among the neurocognitive processes that help distinguishing ourselves from others. It is thought to be rooted in the motor system (e.g., related to motor intention and prediction), while the role of body awareness, which necessarily accompanies any voluntary movement, in this phenomenon is largely unknown. To fill this gap, here we compared the perceived intensity, somatosensory evoked potentials, and alpha-band desynchronization for self-generated, other-generated, and embodied-fake-hand-generated somatosensory stimuli. We showed that sensory attenuation triggered by the own hand and by the embodied fake hand had the same behavioral and neurophysiological signatures (reduced subjective intensity, reduced of N140 and P200 SEP components and post-stimulus alpha-band desynchronization). Therefore, signals subserving body ownership influenced attenuation of somatosensory stimuli, possibly in a postdictive manner. This indicates that body ownership is crucial for distinguishing the source of the perceived sensations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Pyasik
- SAMBA (SpAtial, Motor and Bodily Awareness) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy; NPSY-Lab.VR, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Irene Ronga
- MANIBUS - Movement ANd body In Behavioral and physiological neUroScience research group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy
| | - Dalila Burin
- IDAC - Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, SARC - Smart-Aging Research Center, Kawashima Laboratory, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Adriana Salatino
- SAMBA (SpAtial, Motor and Bodily Awareness) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy
| | - Pietro Sarasso
- SAMBA (SpAtial, Motor and Bodily Awareness) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS - Movement ANd body In Behavioral and physiological neUroScience research group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy
| | - Raffaella Ricci
- SAMBA (SpAtial, Motor and Bodily Awareness) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy; NIT (Neuroscience Institute of Turin), 10123 Turin, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Pia
- SAMBA (SpAtial, Motor and Bodily Awareness) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10123 Turin, Italy; NIT (Neuroscience Institute of Turin), 10123 Turin, Italy.
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32
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Seinfeld S, Müller J. Impact of visuomotor feedback on the embodiment of virtual hands detached from the body. Sci Rep 2020; 10:22427. [PMID: 33380732 PMCID: PMC7773737 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79255-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been shown that mere observation of body discontinuity leads to diminished body ownership. However, the impact of body discontinuity has mainly been investigated in conditions where participants observe a collocated static virtual body from a first-person perspective. This study explores the influence of body discountinuity on the sense of embodiment, when rich visuomotor correlations between a real and an artificial virtual body are established. In two experiments, we evaluated body ownership and motor performance, when participants interacted in virtual reality either using virtual hands connected or disconnected from a body. We found that even under the presence of congruent visuomotor feedback, mere observation of body discontinuity resulted in diminished embodiment. Contradictory evidence was found in relation to motor performance, where further research is needed to understand the role of visual body discontinuity in motor tasks. Preliminary findings on physiological reactions to a threat were also assessed, indicating that body visual discontinuity does not differently impact threat-related skin conductance responses. The present results are in accordance with past evidence showing that body discontinuity negatively impacts embodiment. However, further research is needed to understand the influence of visuomotor feedback and body morphological congruency on motor performance and threat-related physiological reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Seinfeld
- Chair of Applied Computer Science VIII, Institute of Computer Science, University of Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany.
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Centre de la Imatge i la Tecnologia Multimèdia (CITM), Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Jörg Müller
- Chair of Applied Computer Science VIII, Institute of Computer Science, University of Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany
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33
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Rabellino D, Frewen PA, McKinnon MC, Lanius RA. Peripersonal Space and Bodily Self-Consciousness: Implications for Psychological Trauma-Related Disorders. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:586605. [PMID: 33362457 PMCID: PMC7758430 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.586605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Peripersonal space (PPS) is defined as the space surrounding the body where we can reach or be reached by external entities, including objects or other individuals. PPS is an essential component of bodily self-consciousness that allows us to perform actions in the world (e.g., grasping and manipulating objects) and protect our body while interacting with the surrounding environment. Multisensory processing plays a critical role in PPS representation, facilitating not only to situate ourselves in space but also assisting in the localization of external entities at a close distance from our bodies. Such abilities appear especially crucial when an external entity (a sound, an object, or a person) is approaching us, thereby allowing the assessment of the salience of a potential incoming threat. Accordingly, PPS represents a key aspect of social cognitive processes operational when we interact with other people (for example, in a dynamic dyad). The underpinnings of PPS have been investigated largely in human models and in animals and include the operation of dedicated multimodal neurons (neurons that respond specifically to co-occurring stimuli from different perceptive modalities, e.g., auditory and tactile stimuli) within brain regions involved in sensorimotor processing (ventral intraparietal sulcus, ventral premotor cortex), interoception (insula), and visual recognition (lateral occipital cortex). Although the defensive role of the PPS has been observed in psychopathology (e.g., in phobias) the relation between PPS and altered states of bodily consciousness remains largely unexplored. Specifically, PPS representation in trauma-related disorders, where altered states of consciousness can involve dissociation from the body and its surroundings, have not been investigated. Accordingly, we review here: (1) the behavioral and neurobiological literature surrounding trauma-related disorders and its relevance to PPS; and (2) outline future research directions aimed at examining altered states of bodily self-consciousness in trauma related-disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Rabellino
- Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Imaging Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
| | - Paul A. Frewen
- Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Margaret C. McKinnon
- Mood Disorders Program, St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
- Homewood Research Institute, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Ruth A. Lanius
- Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Imaging Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
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34
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Garbarini F, Fossataro C, Pia L, Berti A. What pathological embodiment/disembodiment tell us about body representations. Neuropsychologia 2020; 149:107666. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Revised: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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35
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Galigani M, Ronga I, Fossataro C, Bruno V, Castellani N, Rossi Sebastiano A, Forster B, Garbarini F. Like the back of my hand: Visual ERPs reveal a specific change detection mechanism for the bodily self. Cortex 2020; 134:239-252. [PMID: 33307269 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The ability to identify our own body is considered a pivotal marker of self-awareness. Previous research demonstrated that subjects are more efficient in the recognition of images representing self rather than others' body effectors (self-advantage). Here, we verified whether, at an electrophysiological level, bodily-self recognition modulates change detection responses. In a first EEG experiment (discovery sample), event-related potentials (ERPs) were elicited by a pair of sequentially presented visual stimuli (vS1; vS2), representing either the self-hand or other people's hands. In a second EEG experiment (replicating sample), together with the previously described visual stimuli, also a familiar hand was presented. Participants were asked to decide whether vS2 was identical or different from vS1. Accuracy and response times were collected. In both experiments, results confirmed the presence of the self-advantage: participants responded faster and more accurately when the self-hand was presented. ERP results paralleled behavioral findings. Anytime the self-hand was presented, we observed significant change detection responses, with a larger N270 component for vS2 different rather than identical to vS1. Conversely, when the self-hand was not included, and even in response to the familiar hand in Experiment 2, we did not find any significant modulation of the change detection responses. Overall our findings, showing behavioral self-advantage and the selective modulation of N270 for the self-hand, support the existence of a specific mechanism devoted to bodily-self recognition, likely relying on the multimodal (visual and sensorimotor) dimension of the bodily-self representation. We propose that such a multimodal self-representation may activate the salience network, boosting change detection effects specifically for the self-hand.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mattia Galigani
- Manibus Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Irene Ronga
- Manibus Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
| | | | - Valentina Bruno
- Manibus Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Nicolò Castellani
- Manibus Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Bettina Forster
- Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Psychology Department, City, University of London, UK
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- Manibus Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; Neuroscience Institute of Turin, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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36
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The anatomo-clinical picture of the pathological embodiment over someone else's body part after stroke. Cortex 2020; 130:203-219. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Revised: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Conson M, Cecere R, Baiano C, De Bellis F, Forgione G, Zappullo I, Trojano L. Implicit Motor Imagery and the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex: Hints for Tailoring Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:ijerph17165851. [PMID: 32806702 PMCID: PMC7459529 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17165851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2020] [Revised: 08/09/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Background: Recent evidence has converged in showing that the lateral occipitotemporal cortex is over-recruited during implicit motor imagery in elderly and in patients with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. These data suggest that when automatically imaging movements, individuals exploit neural resources in the visual areas to compensate for the decline in activating motor representations. Thus, the occipitotemporal cortex could represent a cortical target of non-invasive brain stimulation combined with cognitive training to enhance motor imagery performance. Here, we aimed at shedding light on the role of the left and right lateral occipitotemporal cortex in implicit motor imagery. Methods: We applied online, high-frequency, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left and right lateral occipitotemporal cortex while healthy right-handers judged the laterality of hand images. Results: With respect to the sham condition, left hemisphere stimulation specifically reduced accuracy in judging the laterality of right-hand images. Instead, the hallmark of motor simulation, i.e., the biomechanical effect, was never influenced by rTMS. Conclusions: The lateral occipitotemporal cortex seems to be involved in mental representation of the dominant hand, at least in right-handers, but not in reactivating sensorimotor information during simulation. These findings provide useful hints for developing combined brain stimulation and behavioural trainings to improve motor imagery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimiliano Conson
- Laboratory of Developmental Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (R.C.); (C.B.); (G.F.); (I.Z.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-08-2327-5327
| | - Roberta Cecere
- Laboratory of Developmental Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (R.C.); (C.B.); (G.F.); (I.Z.)
| | - Chiara Baiano
- Laboratory of Developmental Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (R.C.); (C.B.); (G.F.); (I.Z.)
| | - Francesco De Bellis
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (F.D.B.); (L.T.)
| | - Gabriela Forgione
- Laboratory of Developmental Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (R.C.); (C.B.); (G.F.); (I.Z.)
| | - Isa Zappullo
- Laboratory of Developmental Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (R.C.); (C.B.); (G.F.); (I.Z.)
| | - Luigi Trojano
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy; (F.D.B.); (L.T.)
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de Haan EH, Dijkerman HC. Somatosensation in the Brain: A Theoretical Re-evaluation and a New Model. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 24:529-541. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2020] [Revised: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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39
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Modulations of Insular Projections by Prior Belief Mediate the Precision of Prediction Error during Tactile Learning. J Neurosci 2020; 40:3827-3837. [PMID: 32269104 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2904-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Revised: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 02/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Awareness for surprising sensory events is shaped by prior belief inferred from past experience. Here, we combined hierarchical Bayesian modeling with fMRI on an associative learning task in 28 male human participants to characterize the effect of the prior belief of tactile events on connections mediating the outcome of perceptual decisions. Activity in anterior insular cortex (AIC), premotor cortex (PMd), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) were modulated by prior belief on unexpected targets compared with expected targets. On expected targets, prior belief decreased the connection strength from AIC to IPL, whereas it increased the connection strength from AIC to PMd when targets were unexpected. Individual differences in the modulatory strength of prior belief on insular projections correlated with the precision that increases the influence of prediction errors on belief updating. These results suggest complementary effects of prior belief on insular-frontoparietal projections mediating the precision of prediction during probabilistic tactile learning.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In a probabilistic environment, the prior belief of sensory events can be inferred from past experiences. How this prior belief modulates effective brain connectivity for updating expectations for future decision-making remains unexplored. Combining hierarchical Bayesian modeling with fMRI, we show that during tactile associative learning, prior expectations modulate connections originating in the anterior insula cortex and targeting salience-related and attention-related frontoparietal areas (i.e., parietal and premotor cortex). These connections seem to be involved in updating evidence based on the precision of ascending inputs to guide future decision-making.
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Effects of Rubber Hand Illusion and Excitatory Theta Burst Stimulation on Tactile Sensation: A Pilot Study. Neural Plast 2020; 2020:3069639. [PMID: 32318103 PMCID: PMC7152971 DOI: 10.1155/2020/3069639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Synchronous visuotactile stimulation on the own hidden hand and a visible fake limb can alter bodily self-perception and influence spontaneous neuroplasticity. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm experimentally produces an illusion of rubber hand ownership and arm shift by simultaneously stroking a rubber hand in view and a participant's visually occluded hand. The aim of this cross-over, placebo-controlled, single-blind study was to assess whether RHI, in combination with high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) given as intermittent (excitatory) theta burst stimulation (iTBS) applied over the hand area of the primary sensory region (S1) can enhance tactile sensation in a group of 21 healthy subjects and one patient with cervical spinal cord injury. Four sessions covered all combinations of real and sham stimulations of the RHI and the TBS: real TBS and real RHI, real TBS and sham RHI, sham TBS and real RHI, and both conditions sham. The condition sham TBS and real RHI shows the greatest effect on the proprioceptive drift (median 2.3 cm, IQR 2) and on the score of RHI questionnaires (median 3, IQR 2) in the control group as well as in the real-real condition (median 2, IQR 2). The sham TBS and real RHI condition also shows the best results in the electrical perception test of the patient (median 1.9 mA). Conversely, the upregulation of the cortical excitability of S1 via TBS seems to impair the effect of the RHI. This might be due to a strengthening of the top-down connection between the central nervous system and the periphery, diminishing the RHI. This finding helps in understanding the mechanisms of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in healthy subjects and patients with spinal cord injury. The RHI paradigm could represent an interesting therapeutic approach in improving tactile sensation and rTMS techniques could modulate these effects. Yet, further studies are needed, to examine the direction of the interaction effect of TMS and RH.
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Acquisition of Ownership Illusion with Self-Disownership in Neurological Patients. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10030170. [PMID: 32183477 PMCID: PMC7139520 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10030170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2020] [Revised: 03/10/2020] [Accepted: 03/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The multisensory regions in frontoparietal cortices play a crucial role in the sense of body and self. Disrupting this sense may lead to a feeling of disembodiment, or more generally, a sense of disownership. Experimentally, this altered consciousness disappears during illusory own-body perceptions, increasing the intensity of perceived ownership for an external virtual limb. In many clinical conditions, particularly in individuals with a discontinuous or absent sense of bodily awareness, the brain may effortlessly create a convincing feeling of body ownership over a surrogate body or body part. The immediate visual input dominates the current bodily state and induces rapid plastic adaptation that reconfigures the dynamics of bodily representation, allowing the brain to acquire an alternative sense of body and self. Investigating strategies to deconstruct the lack of a normal sense of bodily ownership, especially after a neurological injury, may aid the selection of appropriate clinical treatment.
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42
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Active inference under visuo-proprioceptive conflict: Simulation and empirical results. Sci Rep 2020; 10:4010. [PMID: 32132646 PMCID: PMC7055248 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61097-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 02/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been suggested that the brain controls hand movements via internal models that rely on visual and proprioceptive cues about the state of the hand. In active inference formulations of such models, the relative influence of each modality on action and perception is determined by how precise (reliable) it is expected to be. The ‘top-down’ affordance of expected precision to a particular sensory modality is associated with attention. Here, we asked whether increasing attention to (i.e., the precision of) vision or proprioception would enhance performance in a hand-target phase matching task, in which visual and proprioceptive cues about hand posture were incongruent. We show that in a simple simulated agent—based on predictive coding formulations of active inference—increasing the expected precision of vision or proprioception improved task performance (target matching with the seen or felt hand, respectively) under visuo-proprioceptive conflict. Moreover, we show that this formulation captured the behaviour and self-reported attentional allocation of human participants performing the same task in a virtual reality environment. Together, our results show that selective attention can balance the impact of (conflicting) visual and proprioceptive cues on action—rendering attention a key mechanism for a flexible body representation for action.
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43
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Salvato G, Richter F, Sedeño L, Bottini G, Paulesu E. Building the bodily self-awareness: Evidence for the convergence between interoceptive and exteroceptive information in a multilevel kernel density analysis study. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:401-418. [PMID: 31609042 PMCID: PMC7268061 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Revised: 07/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Exteroceptive and interoceptive signals shape and sustain the bodily self-awareness. The existence of a set of brain areas, supporting the integration of information coming from the inside and the outside of the body in building the sense of bodily self-awareness has been postulated, yet the evidence remains limited, a matter of discussion never assessed quantitatively. With the aim of unrevealing where in the brain interoceptive and exteroceptive signals may converge, we performed a meta-analysis on imaging studies of the sense of body ownership, modulated by external visuotactile stimulation, and studies on interoception, which involves the self-awareness for internal bodily sensations. Using a multilevel kernel density analysis, we found that processing of stimuli of the two domains converges primarily in the supramarginal gyrus bilaterally. Furthermore, we found a right-lateralized set of areas, including the precentral and postcentral, and superior temporal gyri. We discuss these results and propose this set of areas as ideal candidates to match multiple body-related signals contributing to the creation of a multidimensional representation of the bodily self.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerardo Salvato
- Department of Brain and Behavioural SciencesUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
- Centre of Cognitive NeuropsychologyASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda HospitalMilanItaly
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for NeuroscienceMilanItaly
| | - Fabian Richter
- Department of PsychologyUniversität zu KölnCologneGermany
| | - Lucas Sedeño
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN)Institute of Translational and Cognitive Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro UniversityBuenos AiresArgentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)Buenos AiresArgentina
| | - Gabriella Bottini
- Department of Brain and Behavioural SciencesUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
- Centre of Cognitive NeuropsychologyASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda HospitalMilanItaly
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for NeuroscienceMilanItaly
| | - Eraldo Paulesu
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Milano‐BicoccaMilanItaly
- IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico GaleazziMilanItaly
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44
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Litwin P. Extending Bayesian Models of the Rubber Hand Illusion. Multisens Res 2020; 33:127-160. [PMID: 31648196 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-20191440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Human body sense is surprisingly flexible - in the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI), precisely administered visuo-tactile stimulation elicits a sense of ownership over a fake hand. The general consensus is that there are certain semantic top-down constraints on which objects may be incorporated in this way: in particular, to-be-embodied objects should be structurally similar to a visual representation stored in an internal body model. However, empirical evidence shows that the sense of ownership may extend to objects strikingly distinct in morphology and structure (e.g., robotic arms) and the hypothesis about the relevance of appearance lacks direct empirical support. Probabilistic multisensory integration approaches constitute a promising alternative. However, the recent Bayesian models of RHI limit too strictly the possible factors influencing likelihood and prior probability distributions. In this paper, I analyse how Bayesian models of RHI could be extended. The introduction of skin-based spatial information can account for the cross-compensation of sensory signals giving rise to RHI. Furthermore, addition of Bayesian Coupling Priors, depending on (1) internal learned models of relatedness (coupling strength) of sensory cues, (2) scope of temporal binding windows, and (3) extension of peripersonal space, would allow quantification of individual tendencies to integrate divergent visual and somatosensory signals. The extension of Bayesian models would yield an empirically testable proposition accounting comprehensively for a wide spectrum of RHI-related phenomena and rendering appearance-oriented internal body models explanatorily redundant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Litwin
- 1Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7, 00-183, Warsaw, Poland.,2Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330, Warsaw, Poland
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45
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Schettler A, Raja V, Anderson ML. The Embodiment of Objects: Review, Analysis, and Future Directions. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:1332. [PMID: 31920499 PMCID: PMC6923672 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Here we offer a thorough review of the empirical literature on the conditions under which an object, such as a tool or a prosthetic (whether real or virtual), can be experienced as being in some sense a part or extension of one's body. We discuss this literature both from the standpoint of the apparent malleability of our body representations, and also from within the framework of radical embodied cognition, which understands the phenomenon to result not from an alteration to a representation, but rather from the achievement of a certain kind of sensory/motor coupling. We highlight both the tensions between these frameworks, and also areas where they can productively complement one another for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aubrie Schettler
- Department of Philosophy, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada.,Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada
| | - Vicente Raja
- Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada
| | - Michael L Anderson
- Department of Philosophy, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada.,Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada.,Brain and Mind Institute, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada
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46
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Kim Y, Usui N, Miyazaki A, Haji T, Matsumoto K, Taira M, Nakamura K, Katsuyama N. Cortical Regions Encoding Hardness Perception Modulated by Visual Information Identified by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Multivoxel Pattern Analysis. Front Syst Neurosci 2019; 13:52. [PMID: 31632245 PMCID: PMC6779815 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2019.00052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have revealed that hardness perception is determined by visual information along with the haptic input. This study investigated the cortical regions involved in hardness perception modulated by visual information using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA). Twenty-two healthy participants were enrolled. They were required to place their left and right hands at the front and back, respectively, of a mirror attached to a platform placed above them while lying in a magnetic resonance scanner. In conditions SFT, MED, and HRD, one of three polyurethane foam pads of varying hardness (soft, medium, and hard, respectively) was presented to the left hand in a given trial, while only the medium pad was presented to the right hand in all trials. MED was defined as the control condition, because the visual and haptic information was congruent. During the scan, the participants were required to push the pad with the both hands while observing the reflection of the left hand and estimate the hardness of the pad perceived by the right (hidden) hand based on magnitude estimation. Behavioral results showed that the perceived hardness was significantly biased toward softer or harder in >73% of the trials in conditions SFT and HRD; we designated these trials as visually modulated (SFTvm and HRDvm, respectively). The accuracy map was calculated individually for each of the pair-wise comparisons of (SFTvm vs. MED), (HRDvm vs. MED), and (SFTvm vs. HRDvm) by a searchlight MVPA, and the cortical regions encoding the perceived hardness with visual modulation were identified by conjunction of the three accuracy maps in group analysis. The cluster was observed in the right sensory motor cortex, left anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS), bilateral parietal operculum (PO), and occipito-temporal cortex (OTC). Together with previous findings on such cortical regions, we conclude that the visual information of finger movements processed in the OTC may be integrated with haptic input in the left aIPS, and the subjective hardness perceived by the right hand with visual modulation may be processed in the cortical network between the left PO and aIPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuri Kim
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan.,Department of Cognitive Neurobiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Brain Integration Research, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Nobuo Usui
- Department of Cognitive Neurobiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Brain Integration Research, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Tomoki Haji
- Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Masato Taira
- Department of Cognitive Neurobiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Brain Integration Research, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Narumi Katsuyama
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan.,Department of Cognitive Neurobiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Brain Integration Research, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
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47
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Activity of the inferior parietal cortex is modulated by visual feedback delay in the robot hand illusion. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10030. [PMID: 31296914 PMCID: PMC6624271 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46527-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The robot hand illusion (RoHI) is the perception of self-ownership and self-agency of a virtual (robot) hand that moves consistently with one's own. The phenomenon shows that self-attribution can be established via temporal integration of visual and movement information. Our previous study showed that participants felt significantly greater RoHI (sense of self-ownership and sense of self-agency) when visuomotor temporal discrepancies were less than 200 ms. A weaker RoHI effect (sense of self-agency only) was observed when temporal discrepancies were between 300 and 500 ms. Here, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate brain activity associated with the RoHI under different visual feedback delays (100 ms, 400 ms, 700 ms). We found that the angular and supramarginal gyri exhibited significant activation in the 100-ms feedback condition. ANOVA indicated a significant difference between the 100-ms condition and the other conditions (p < 0.01). These results demonstrate that activity in the posterior parietal cortex was modulated by the delay between the motor command and the visual feedback of the virtual hand movements. Thus, we propose that the inferior parietal cortex is essential for integrating motor and visual information to distinguish one's own body from others.
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48
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Pyasik M, Furlanetto T, Pia L. The Role of Body-Related Afferent Signals in Human Sense of Agency. J Exp Neurosci 2019; 13:1179069519849907. [PMID: 31205423 PMCID: PMC6537487 DOI: 10.1177/1179069519849907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2018] [Accepted: 04/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
At present, most of the neurocognitive models of human sense of agency (ie, "this action is due to my own will") have been traditionally rooted in a variety of internal efferent signals arising within the motor system. However, recent neuroscientific evidence has suggested that also the body-related afferent signals that subserve body ownership (ie, "this body is mine") might have a key role in this process. Accordingly, in the present review paper, we briefly examined the literature investigating how and to what extent body ownership contributes to building up human motor consciousness. Evidence suggests that, if required by the context, body ownership per se can act on agency attribution (ie, independently from efferent signals). Hence, a unitary and coherent subjective experience of willed actions (ie, "this willed action is being realized by my own body") requires both awareness of being an agent and of owning the body.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Pyasik
- SpAtial, Motor & Bodily Awareness (SAMBA) Research Group, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Lorenzo Pia
- SpAtial, Motor & Bodily Awareness (SAMBA) Research Group, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.,Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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49
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Hornburger H, Nguemeni C, Odorfer T, Zeller D. Modulation of the rubber hand illusion by transcranial direct current stimulation over the contralateral somatosensory cortex. Neuropsychologia 2019; 131:353-359. [PMID: 31078549 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2019] [Revised: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), illusory bodily ownership is induced by synchronous touch of a participant's hidden hand and a visible surrogate. This paradigm allows investigating how the brain resolves conflicting multisensory evidence during perceptual inference. Previous studies suggest that the conflict between visual and proprioceptive information preceding the RHI is solved by attenuation of the somatosensory input. To investigate whether excitability-decreasing transcranial direct current stimulation (cathodal tDCS) over the primary somatosensory cortex may enhance the RHI, thirty healthy subjects underwent RHI without (baseline) and during tDCS. Each subject received cathodal, anodal, and sham stimulation at independent sessions on three separate days. The RHI paradigm was applied at six interval distances between the real and artificial hand. Occurrence of the RHI was evaluated by a questionnaire (illusion score) and the perceived hand misplacement (relative drift). Compared to sham, neither cathodal, nor anodal tDCS induced significant changes of the illusion score. However, cathodal tDCS was associated with significantly higher illusion scores compared to anodal stimulation. The relative drift was comparable between stimulation modes. Our findings point to a differential impact of cathodal vs. anodal tDCS over the somatosensory region on RHI perception. This may indicate that an attenuation - in contrast to an enhancement - of somatosensory precision might pave the way for the integration of an artificial limb into one's body schema.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Hornburger
- Dept. of Neurology, University of Würzburg, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Carine Nguemeni
- Dept. of Neurology, University of Würzburg, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Thorsten Odorfer
- Dept. of Neurology, University of Würzburg, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Daniel Zeller
- Dept. of Neurology, University of Würzburg, 97080, Würzburg, Germany.
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The Effect of Visual Capture Towards Subjective Embodiment Within the Full Body Illusion. Sci Rep 2019; 9:2889. [PMID: 30814561 PMCID: PMC6393432 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39168-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 12/31/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Typically, multisensory illusion paradigms emphasise the importance of synchronous visuotactile integration to induce subjective embodiment towards another body. However, the extent to which embodiment is due to the 'visual capture' of congruent visuoproprioceptive information alone remains unclear. Thus, across two experiments (total N = 80), we investigated how mere visual observation of a mannequin body, viewed from a first-person perspective, influenced subjective embodiment independently from concomitant visuotactile integration. Moreover, we investigated whether slow, affective touch on participants' own, unseen body (without concomitant touch on the seen mannequin) disrupted visual capture effects to a greater degree than fast, non-affective touch. In total, 40% of participants experienced subjective embodiment towards the mannequin body following mere visual observation, and this effect was significantly higher than conditions which included touch to participants own, unseen body. The velocity of the touch that participants received (affective/non-affective) did not differ in modulating visual capture effects. Furthermore, the effects of visual capture and perceived pleasantness of touch was not modulated by subthreshold eating disorder psychopathology. Overall, this study suggests that congruent visuoproprioceptive cues can be sufficient to induce subjective embodiment of a whole body, in the absence of visuotactile integration and beyond mere confabulatory responses.
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