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Chiarella SG, De Pastina R, Raffone A, Simione L. Mindfulness Affects the Boundaries of Bodily Self-Representation: The Effect of Focused-Attention Meditation in Fading the Boundary of Peripersonal Space. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:306. [PMID: 38667102 PMCID: PMC11047477 DOI: 10.3390/bs14040306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2024] [Revised: 03/23/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Peripersonal space (PPS) is a dynamic multisensory representation of the space around the body, influenced by internal and external sensory information. The malleability of PPS boundaries, as evidenced by their expansion after tool use or modulation through social interactions, positions PPS as a crucial element in understanding the subjective experiences of self and otherness. Building on the existing literature highlighting both the cognitive and bodily effects of mindfulness meditation, this study proposes a novel approach by employing focused-attention meditation (FAM) and a multisensory audio-tactile task to assess PPS in both the extension and sharpness of its boundaries. The research hypothesis posits that FAM, which emphasizes heightened attention to bodily sensations and interoception, may reduce the extension of PPS and make its boundaries less sharp. We enrolled 26 non-meditators who underwent a repeated measure design in which they completed the PPS task before and after a 15-min FAM induction. We found a significant reduction in the sharpness of PPS boundaries but no significant reduction in PPS extension. These results provide novel insights into the immediate effects of FAM on PPS, potentially shedding light on the modulation of self-other representations in both cognitive and bodily domains. Indeed, our findings could have implications for understanding the intricate relationship between mindfulness practices and the subjective experience of self within spatial contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salvatore Gaetano Chiarella
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR), 00185 Rome, Italy
- International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 34136 Trieste, Italy
| | - Riccardo De Pastina
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; (R.D.P.); (A.R.)
| | - Antonino Raffone
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; (R.D.P.); (A.R.)
| | - Luca Simione
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR), 00185 Rome, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche e Sociali Internazionali, UNINT, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma, 00147 Rome, Italy
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Berengueres J, AlKuwaiti M, Abduljabbar M, Taher F. Adding Sound Transparency to a Spacesuit: Effect on Cognitive Performance in Females. IEEE OPEN JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2023; 4:190-194. [PMID: 38226364 PMCID: PMC10789458 DOI: 10.1109/ojemb.2023.3288740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Spacesuits may block external sound. This induces sensory deprivation; a side effect is lower cognitive performance. This can increase the risk of an accident. This undesirable effect can be mitigated by designing suits with sound transparency. If the atmosphere is available, as on Mars, sound transparency can be realized by augmenting and processing external sounds. If no atmosphere is available, such as on the Moon, then an Earth-like sound can be re-created via generative AR techniques. We measure the effect of adding sound transparency in an Intra-Vehicular Activity suit by means of the Koh Block test. The results indicate that participants complete the test more quickly when wearing a suit with sound transparency.
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Ferroni F, Gallese V, Soccini AM, Langiulli N, Rastelli F, Ferri D, Bianchi F, Ardizzi M. The Remapping of Peripersonal Space in a Real but Not in a Virtual Environment. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12091125. [PMID: 36138861 PMCID: PMC9497134 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12091125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the most surprising features of our brain is the fact that it is extremely plastic. Among the various plastic processes supported by our brain, there is the neural representation of the space surrounding our body, the peripersonal space (PPS). The effects of real-world tool use on the PPS are well known in cognitive neuroscience, but little is still known whether similar mechanisms also govern virtual tool use. To this purpose, the present study investigated the plasticity of the PPS before and after a real (Experiment 1) or virtual motor training with a tool (Experiment 2). The results show the expansion of the PPS only following real-world tool use but not virtual use, highlighting how the two types of training potentially rely on different processes. This study enriches the current state of the art on the plasticity of PPS in real and virtual environments. We discuss our data with respect to the relevance for the development of effective immersive environment for trainings, learning and rehabilitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Ferroni
- Unit of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0521-903873; Fax: +39-0521-903879
| | - Vittorio Gallese
- Unit of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
| | | | - Nunzio Langiulli
- Unit of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
| | - Francesca Rastelli
- Unit of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
| | | | | | - Martina Ardizzi
- Unit of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
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4
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Acute stress affects peripersonal space representation in cortisol stress responders. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2022; 142:105790. [PMID: 35605473 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Peripersonal space is the representation of the space near the body. It is implemented by a dedicated multisensory-motor network, whose purpose is to predict and plan interactions with the environment, and which can vary depending on environmental circumstances. Here, we investigated the effect on the PPS representation of an experimentally induced stress response and compared it to a control, non-stressful, manipulation. We assessed PPS representation in healthy humans, before and after a stressful manipulation, by quantifying visuotactile interactions as a function of the distance from the body, while monitoring salivary cortisol concentration. While PPS representation was not significantly different between the control and experimental group, a relation between cortisol response and changes in PPS emerged within the experimental group. Participants who showed a cortisol stress response presented enhanced visuotactile integration for stimuli close to the body and reduced for far stimuli. Conversely, individuals with a less pronounced cortisol response showed a reduced difference in visuotactile integration between the near and the far space. In our interpretation, physiological stress resulted in a freezing-like response, where multisensory-motor resources are allocated only to the area immediately surrounding the body.
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5
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He J, Ren H, Li J, Dong M, Dai L, Li Z, Miao Y, Li Y, Tan P, Gu L, Chen X, Tang J. Deficits in Sense of Body Ownership, Sensory Processing, and Temporal Perception in Schizophrenia Patients With/Without Auditory Verbal Hallucinations. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:831714. [PMID: 35495040 PMCID: PMC9046910 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.831714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been claimed that individuals with schizophrenia have difficulty in self-recognition and, consequently, are unable to identify the sources of their sensory perceptions or thoughts, resulting in delusions, hallucinations, and unusual experiences of body ownership. The deficits also contribute to the enhanced rubber hand illusion (RHI; a body perception illusion, induced by synchronous visual and tactile stimulation). Evidence based on RHI paradigms is emerging that auditory information can make an impact on the sense of body ownership, which relies on the process of multisensory inputs and integration. Hence, we assumed that auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), as an abnormal auditory perception, could be linked with body ownership, and the RHI paradigm could be conducted in patients with AVHs to explore the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the performance of patients with/without AVHs in the RHI. We administered the RHI paradigm to 80 patients with schizophrenia (47 with AVHs and 33 without AVHs) and 36 healthy controls. We conducted the experiment under two conditions (synchronous and asynchronous) and evaluated the RHI effects by both objective and subjective measures. Both patient groups experienced the RHI more quickly and strongly than HCs. The RHI effects of patients with AVHs were significantly smaller than those of patients without AVHs. Another important finding was that patients with AVHs did not show a reduction in RHI under asynchronous conditions. These results emphasize the disturbances of the sense of body ownership in schizophrenia patients with/without AVHs and the associations with AVHs. Furthermore, it is suggested that patients with AVHs may have multisensory processing dysfunctions and internal timing deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingqi He
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Honghong Ren
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jinguang Li
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
- Affiliated Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Min Dong
- Guangdong Mental Health Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lulin Dai
- Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Functional Neurosurgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhijun Li
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yating Miao
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yunjin Li
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Peixuan Tan
- Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
| | - Lin Gu
- RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, Tokyo, Japan
- Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Xiaogang Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
- *Correspondence: Xiaogang Chen,
| | - Jinsong Tang
- Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run-Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zigong Mental Health Center, Zigong, China
- Jinsong Tang,
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Radziun D, Crucianelli L, Ehrsson HH. Limits of Cross-modal Plasticity? Short-term Visual Deprivation Does Not Enhance Cardiac Interoception, Thermosensation, or Tactile Spatial Acuity. Biol Psychol 2021; 168:108248. [PMID: 34971758 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
In the present study, we investigated the effect of short-term visual deprivation on discriminative touch, cardiac interoception, and thermosensation by asking 64 healthy volunteers to perform four behavioral tasks. The experimental group contained 32 subjects who were blindfolded and kept in complete darkness for 110minutes, while the control group consisted of 32 volunteers who were not blindfolded but were otherwise kept under identical experimental conditions. Both groups performed the required tasks three times: before and directly after deprivation (or control) and after an additional washout period of 40minutes, in which all participants were exposed to normal light conditions. Our results showed that short-term visual deprivation had no effect on any of the senses tested. This finding suggests that short-term visual deprivation does not modulate basic bodily senses and extends this principle beyond tactile processing to the interoceptive modalities of cardiac and thermal sensations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominika Radziun
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Laura Crucianelli
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - H Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Lee HS, Hong SJJ, Baxter T, Scott J, Shenoy S, Buck L, Bodenheimer B, Park S. Altered Peripersonal Space and the Bodily Self in Schizophrenia: A Virtual Reality Study. Schizophr Bull 2021; 47:927-937. [PMID: 33844019 PMCID: PMC8266616 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbab024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Self-disturbances such as an anomalous perception of one's own body boundary are central to the phenomenology of schizophrenia (SZ), but measuring the spatial parameters of the hypothesized self-other boundary has proved to be challenging. Peripersonal space (PPS) refers to the immediate zone surrounding the body where the self interacts physically with the environment; the space that corresponds to hypothesized self-other boundary. PPS is represented by enhanced multisensory integration and faster reaction time (RT) for objects near the body. Thus, multisensory RT tasks can be used to estimate self-other boundary. We aimed to quantify PPS in SZ using an immersive virtual reality visuotactile RT paradigm. Twenty-four participants with SZ and 24 demographically matched controls (CO) were asked to detect tactile vibration while watching a ball approaching them, thrown by either a machine (nonsocial condition) or an avatar (social condition). Parameters of PPS were estimated from the midpoint of the spatial range where the tactile RT decreased most rapidly (size) and the gradient of the RT change at this midpoint (slope). Overall, PPS was smaller in participants with SZ compared with CO. PPS slope for participants with SZ was shallower than CO in the social but not in nonsocial condition, indicating an increased uncertainty of self-other boundary across an extended zone in SZ. Social condition also increased false alarms for tactile detection in SZ. Clinical symptoms were not clearly associated with PPS parameters. These findings suggest the context-dependent nature of weakened body boundary in SZ and underscore the importance of reconciliating objective and subjective aspects of self-disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyeon-Seung Lee
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Seok-Jin J Hong
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Tatiana Baxter
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Jason Scott
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Sunil Shenoy
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Lauren Buck
- School of Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | | | - Sohee Park
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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8
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Bogdanova OV, Bogdanov VB, Dureux A, Farnè A, Hadj-Bouziane F. The Peripersonal Space in a social world. Cortex 2021; 142:28-46. [PMID: 34174722 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2020] [Revised: 02/27/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The PeriPersonal Space (PPS) has been defined as the space surrounding the body, where physical interactions with elements of the environment take place. As our world is social in nature, recent evidence revealed the complex modulation of social factors onto PPS representation. In light of the growing interest in the field, in this review we take a close look at the experimental approaches undertaken to assess the impact of social factors onto PPS representation. Our social world also influences the personal space (PS), a concept stemming from social psychology, defined as the space we keep between us and others to avoid discomfort. Here we analytically compare PPS and PS with the aim of understanding if and how they relate to each other. At the behavioral level, the multiplicity of experimental methodologies, whether well-established or novel, lead to somewhat divergent results and interpretations. Beyond behavior, we review physiological and neural signatures of PPS representation to discuss how interoceptive signals could contribute to PPS representation, as well as how these internal signals could shape the neural responses of PPS representation. In particular, by merging exteroceptive information from the environment and internal signals that come from the body, PPS may promote an integrated representation of the self, as distinct from the environment and the others. We put forward that integrating internal and external signals in the brain for perception of proximal environmental stimuli may also provide us with a better understanding of the processes at play during social interactions. Adopting such an integrative stance may offer novel insights about PPS representation in a social world. Finally, we discuss possible links between PPS research and social cognition, a link that may contribute to the understanding of intentions and feelings of others around us and promote appropriate social interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olena V Bogdanova
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (Impact), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Lyon, France; University of Lyon 1, France; INCIA, UMR 5287, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, France.
| | - Volodymyr B Bogdanov
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (Impact), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Lyon, France; University of Lyon 1, France; Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat, Laboratoire Génie Civil et Bâtiment, Vaulx-en-Velin, France
| | - Audrey Dureux
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (Impact), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Lyon, France; University of Lyon 1, France
| | - Alessandro Farnè
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (Impact), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Lyon, France; University of Lyon 1, France; Hospices Civils de Lyon, Neuro-Immersion Platform, Lyon, France; Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Italy
| | - Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (Impact), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Lyon, France; University of Lyon 1, France.
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9
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Masson C, van der Westhuizen D, Noel JP, Prevost A, van Honk J, Fotopoulou A, Solms M, Serino A. Testosterone administration in women increases the size of their peripersonal space. Exp Brain Res 2021; 239:1639-1649. [PMID: 33770219 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06080-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Peripersonal space (PPS) is the space immediately surrounding the body, conceptualised as a sensory-motor interface between body and environment. PPS size differs between individuals and contexts, with intrapersonal traits and states, as well as social factors having a determining role on the size of PPS. Testosterone plays an important role in regulating social-motivational behaviour and is known to enhance dominance motivation in an implicit and unconscious manner. We investigated whether the dominance-enhancing effects of testosterone reflect as changes in the representation of PPS in a within-subjects testosterone administration study in women (N = 19). Participants performed a visuo-tactile integration task in a mixed-reality setup. Results indicated that the administration of testosterone caused a significant enlargement of participants' PPS, suggesting that testosterone caused participants to implicitly appropriate a larger space as their own. These findings suggest that the dominance-enhancing effects of testosterone reflect at the level of sensory-motor processing in PPS.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jean-Paul Noel
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, USA
| | | | - Jack van Honk
- University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Mark Solms
- University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Andrea Serino
- MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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10
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Schizotypy and individual differences in peripersonal space plasticity. Neuropsychologia 2020; 147:107579. [PMID: 32758552 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2020] [Revised: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The space surrounding our body, defined as peripersonal space (PPS), is dynamically shaped by our motor experiences. For instance, PPS extends after using a tool to reach far objects. Several studies have demonstrated how PPS size varies across people, depending on different individual characteristics, including schizotypy. Coherently, narrower PPS boundaries have been reported among high schizotypal individuals and schizophrenia patients. However, little is known about the relationship between PPS plasticity and personality traits like schizotypy. To this purpose, the present study has investigated the individual PPS plasticity, after two different motor trainings, along the schizotypal continuum. Specifically, PPS plasticity was tested after using a tool (Experiment 1) and after the mere observation of another person using the same tool (Experiment 2). Indeed, previous evidence has shown that tool-use observation influences visual distance judgments, extending the representation of PPS. To date, however, there is no study investigating whether observation of tools action could also affect multisensory PPS tasks. Experiment 1 has shown that PPS boundaries extended after using the tool; on the other hand, Experiment 2 has revealed the absence of PPS expansion. Moreover, greater PPS expansion emerged in the relatively-low schizotypal group than in the relatively-high one, regardless of the type of motor training performed. The absence of PPS modulation after the observation task is discussed in relation to recent findings showing that intentional action and/or the goal of the action represent potentially crucial elements to trigger PPS plasticity. Finally, these new results extend previous evidence underlining a potential general functional alteration of PPS with the increase of schizotypal level.
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11
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Noel JP, Bertoni T, Terrebonne E, Pellencin E, Herbelin B, Cascio C, Blanke O, Magosso E, Wallace MT, Serino A. Rapid Recalibration of Peri-Personal Space: Psychophysical, Electrophysiological, and Neural Network Modeling Evidence. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:5088-5106. [PMID: 32377673 PMCID: PMC7391419 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Revised: 03/27/2020] [Accepted: 03/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Interactions between individuals and the environment occur within the peri-personal space (PPS). The encoding of this space plastically adapts to bodily constraints and stimuli features. However, these remapping effects have not been demonstrated on an adaptive time-scale, trial-to-trial. Here, we test this idea first via a visuo-tactile reaction time (RT) paradigm in augmented reality where participants are asked to respond as fast as possible to touch, as visual objects approach them. Results demonstrate that RTs to touch are facilitated as a function of visual proximity, and the sigmoidal function describing this facilitation shifts closer to the body if the immediately precedent trial had indexed a smaller visuo-tactile disparity. Next, we derive the electroencephalographic correlates of PPS and demonstrate that this multisensory measure is equally shaped by recent sensory history. Finally, we demonstrate that a validated neural network model of PPS is able to account for the present results via a simple Hebbian plasticity rule. The present findings suggest that PPS encoding remaps on a very rapid time-scale and, more generally, that it is sensitive to sensory history, a key feature for any process contextualizing subsequent incoming sensory information (e.g., a Bayesian prior).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Noel
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York City, NY 10003, USA
| | - Tommaso Bertoni
- MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland
| | - Emily Terrebonne
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Elisa Pellencin
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Trento 38068, Italy
| | - Bruno Herbelin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Campus BioTech, Geneva CH-1202, Switzerland
| | - Carissa Cascio
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medial Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Campus BioTech, Geneva CH-1202, Switzerland
| | - Elisa Magosso
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering ``Guglielmo Marconi'', University of Bologna, Cesena 40126, Italy
| | - Mark T Wallace
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medial Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Andrea Serino
- MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland
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12
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Damiani S, Fusar-Poli L, Brondino N, Provenzani U, Baldwin H, Fusar-Poli P, Politi P. World/self ambivalence: A shared mechanism in different subsets of psychotic experiences? Linking symptoms with resting-state fMRI. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2020; 299:111068. [PMID: 32208349 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2019] [Revised: 03/12/2020] [Accepted: 03/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The psychosis spectrum comprises heterogeneous disorders characterized by both world-related and self-related symptoms. How these symptoms may arise with similar features in spite of the different aetiologies is yet an unsolved question. In behavior narrative review, we compare three conditions characterized by psychotic experiences (schizophrenia, substance-use disorder and sensory-deprivation) searching for links between their phenomenological features and the mechanisms underlying their onset. Clinically, psychotic experiences are characterized by the reciprocal contamination of world- and self-related contents, termed 'world/self ambivalence'. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that the imbalance between stimuli-, self-, and attention-related functional networks (visual/auditory, default-mode, and salience network respectively) assumes central relevance in all the conditions considered. Phenomenology and neurobiology were thus interrelated in light of the reviewed literature, identifying two key neuronal mechanisms which may lead to world/self ambivalence. First, psychotic experiences are associated with the relative dominance of one network over the other (default-mode over auditory/visual networks, or vice-versa), prompting an excess of internal or external pressure to the experienced ambivalence between world and self. Second, an altered salience network resting-state functional connectivity could generate a dysregulation of the attentive fluctuations from self- to world-related activity, thus blurring the boundary between the environment and oneself, labelled the 'world/self boundary'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Damiani
- University of Pavia, Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences. Via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, Italy..
| | - Laura Fusar-Poli
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Psychiatry Unit, Via Santa Sofia 78, 95123, Catania, Italy
| | - Natascia Brondino
- University of Pavia, Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences. Via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Umberto Provenzani
- University of Pavia, Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences. Via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Helen Baldwin
- Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; National Institute for Health Research, Maudsley Biomedical Research Center, South London and Maudsley National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Paolo Fusar-Poli
- University of Pavia, Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences. Via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, Italy.; Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; OASIS service, SLaM NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Pierluigi Politi
- University of Pavia, Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences. Via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, Italy
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13
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Scandola M, Aglioti SM, Lazzeri G, Avesani R, Ionta S, Moro V. Visuo-motor and interoceptive influences on peripersonal space representation following spinal cord injury. Sci Rep 2020; 10:5162. [PMID: 32198431 PMCID: PMC7083926 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-62080-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2019] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Peripersonal space (PPS) representation is modulated by information coming from the body. In paraplegic individuals, whose lower limb sensory-motor functions are impaired or completely lost, the representation of PPS around the feet is reduced. However, passive motion can have short-term restorative effects. What remains unclear is the mechanisms underlying this recovery, in particular with regard to the contribution of visual and motor feedback and of interoception. Using virtual reality technology, we dissociated the motor and visual feedback during passive motion in paraplegics with complete and incomplete lesions and in healthy controls. The results show that in the case of paraplegics, the presence of motor feedback was necessary for the recovery of PPS representation, both when the motor feedback was congruent and when it was incongruent with the visual feedback. In contrast, visuo-motor incongruence led to an inhibition of PPS representation in the control group. There were no differences in sympathetic responses between the three groups. Nevertheless, in individuals with incomplete lesions, greater interoceptive sensitivity was associated with a better representation of PPS around the feet in the visuo-motor incongruent conditions. These results shed new light on the modulation of PPS representation, and demonstrate the importance of residual motor feedback and its integration with other bodily information in maintaining space representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Scandola
- NPSY-Lab.VR, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. .,IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
| | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.,Department of Psychology, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, Italy.,Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Renato Avesani
- Department of Rehabilitation, IRCSS Sacro Cuore - Don Calabria Hospital, Verona, Italy
| | - Silvio Ionta
- Sensory-Motor Lab (SeMoLa), Department of Ophthalmology-University of Lausanne, Jules Gonin Eye; Hospital-Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Valentina Moro
- NPSY-Lab.VR, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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14
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Noel JP, Serino A, Wallace MT. Increased Neural Strength and Reliability to Audiovisual Stimuli at the Boundary of Peripersonal Space. J Cogn Neurosci 2019; 31:1155-1172. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
The actionable space surrounding the body, referred to as peripersonal space (PPS), has been the subject of significant interest of late within the broader framework of embodied cognition. Neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies have shown the representation of PPS to be built from visuotactile and audiotactile neurons within a frontoparietal network and whose activity is modulated by the presence of stimuli in proximity to the body. In contrast to single-unit and fMRI studies, an area of inquiry that has received little attention is the EEG characterization associated with PPS processing. Furthermore, although PPS is encoded by multisensory neurons, to date there has been no EEG study systematically examining neural responses to unisensory and multisensory stimuli, as these are presented outside, near, and within the boundary of PPS. Similarly, it remains poorly understood whether multisensory integration is generally more likely at certain spatial locations (e.g., near the body) or whether the cross-modal tactile facilitation that occurs within PPS is simply due to a reduction in the distance between sensory stimuli when close to the body and in line with the spatial principle of multisensory integration. In the current study, to examine the neural dynamics of multisensory processing within and beyond the PPS boundary, we present auditory, visual, and audiovisual stimuli at various distances relative to participants' reaching limit—an approximation of PPS—while recording continuous high-density EEG. We question whether multisensory (vs. unisensory) processing varies as a function of stimulus–observer distance. Results demonstrate a significant increase of global field power (i.e., overall strength of response across the entire electrode montage) for stimuli presented at the PPS boundary—an increase that is largest under multisensory (i.e., audiovisual) conditions. Source localization of the major contributors to this global field power difference suggests neural generators in the intraparietal sulcus and insular cortex, hubs for visuotactile and audiotactile PPS processing. Furthermore, when neural dynamics are examined in more detail, changes in the reliability of evoked potentials in centroparietal electrodes are predictive on a subject-by-subject basis of the later changes in estimated current strength at the intraparietal sulcus linked to stimulus proximity to the PPS boundary. Together, these results provide a previously unrealized view into the neural dynamics and temporal code associated with the encoding of nontactile multisensory around the PPS boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrea Serino
- University of Lausanne
- Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
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15
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Noel JP, Chatelle C, Perdikis S, Jöhr J, Lopes Da Silva M, Ryvlin P, De Lucia M, Millán JDR, Diserens K, Serino A. Peri-personal space encoding in patients with disorders of consciousness and cognitive-motor dissociation. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2019; 24:101940. [PMID: 31357147 PMCID: PMC6664240 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Revised: 07/13/2019] [Accepted: 07/17/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral assessments of consciousness based on overt command following cannot differentiate patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) from those who demonstrate a dissociation between intent/awareness and motor capacity: cognitive motor dissociation (CMD). We argue that delineation of peri-personal space (PPS) – the multisensory-motor space immediately surrounding the body – may differentiate these patients due to its central role in mediating human-environment interactions, and putatively in scaffolding a minimal form of selfhood. In Experiment 1, we determined a normative physiological index of PPS by recording electrophysiological (EEG) responses to tactile, auditory, or audio-tactile stimulation at different distances (5 vs. 75 cm) in healthy volunteers (N = 19). Contrasts between paired (AT) and summed (A + T) responses demonstrated multisensory supra-additivity when AT stimuli were presented near, i.e., within the PPS, and highlighted somatosensory-motor sensors as electrodes of interest. In Experiment 2, we recorded EEG in patients behaviorally diagnosed as DOC or putative CMD (N = 17, 30 sessions). The PPS-measure developed in Experiment 1 was analyzed in relation with both standard clinical diagnosis (i.e., Coma Recovery Scale; CRS-R) and a measure of neural complexity associated with consciousness. Results demonstrated a significant correlation between the PPS measure and neural complexity, but not with the CRS-R, highlighting the added value of the physiological recordings. Further, multisensory processing in PPS was preserved in putative CMD but not in DOC patients. Together, the findings suggest that indexing PPS allows differentiating between groups of patients whom both show overt motor impairments (DOC and CMD) but putatively distinct levels of awareness or motor intent. Behavioral assessments confound consciousness and motor output. We suggest that multisensory coding of actionable space may dissociate these two. We develop an electrophysiological marker of peri-personal space. Then use this marker to distinguish impairments in consciousness and motor output.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Noel
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Camille Chatelle
- Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Coma Science Group, GIGA Consciousness, University and University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Serafeim Perdikis
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland; Brain-Computer Interfaces and Neural Engineering Laboratory, School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK
| | - Jane Jöhr
- Acute Neurorehabilitation Unit, Neurology, Department of and Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marina Lopes Da Silva
- Acute Neurorehabilitation Unit, Neurology, Department of and Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Philippe Ryvlin
- Acute Neurorehabilitation Unit, Neurology, Department of and Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marzia De Lucia
- Laboratoire de Recherche en Neuroimagerie, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - José Del R Millán
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Karin Diserens
- Acute Neurorehabilitation Unit, Neurology, Department of and Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Andrea Serino
- MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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16
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Orioli G, Santoni A, Dragovic D, Farroni T. Identifying peripersonal space boundaries in newborns. Sci Rep 2019; 9:9370. [PMID: 31253816 PMCID: PMC6598985 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45084-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2019] [Accepted: 05/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Peripersonal space immediately surrounds the body and can be represented in the brain as a multisensory and sensorimotor interface mediating physical and social interactions between body and environment. Very little consideration has been given to the ontogeny of peripersonal spatial representations in early postnatal life, despite the crucial roles of peripersonal space and its adaptive relevance as the space where infants' earliest interactions take place. Here, we investigated whether peripersonal space could be considered a delimited portion of space with defined boundaries soon after birth. Our findings showed for the first time that newborns' saccadic reaction times to a tactile stimulus simultaneous to sounds with different intensities changed based on the sound intensity. In particular, they were significantly faster when the sound was lounder than a critical intensity, in a pattern that closely resembled that showed by adults. Therefore, provided that sound intensity on its own can cue newborns' sound distance perception, we speculate that this critical distance could be considered the boundary of newborns' rudimentary peripersonal space. Altogether, our findings suggest that soon after birth peripersonal space may be already considered as a bounded portion of space, perhaps instrumental to drive newborns' attention towards events and people within it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Orioli
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
| | - Alessandro Santoni
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Danica Dragovic
- Paediatric Unit, Hospital of Monfalcone, Monfalcone, GO, Italy
| | - Teresa Farroni
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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17
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Coupling Inner and Outer Body for Self-Consciousness. Trends Cogn Sci 2019; 23:377-388. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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18
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Serino A. Peripersonal space (PPS) as a multisensory interface between the individual and the environment, defining the space of the self. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 99:138-159. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2018] [Revised: 12/23/2018] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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19
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Noel JP, Samad M, Doxon A, Clark J, Keller S, Di Luca M. Peri-personal space as a prior in coupling visual and proprioceptive signals. Sci Rep 2018; 8:15819. [PMID: 30361477 PMCID: PMC6202371 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33961-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/07/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
It has been suggested that the integration of multiple body-related sources of information within the peri-personal space (PPS) scaffolds body ownership. However, a normative computational framework detailing the functional role of PPS is still missing. Here we cast PPS as a visuo-proprioceptive Bayesian inference problem whereby objects we see in our environment are more likely to engender sensations as they come near to the body. We propose that PPS is the reflection of such an increased a priori probability of visuo-proprioceptive coupling that surrounds the body. To test this prediction, we immersed participants in a highly realistic virtual reality (VR) simulation of their right arm and surrounding environment. We asked participants to perform target-directed reaches toward visual, proprioceptive, and visuo-proprioceptive targets while visually displaying their reaching arm (body visible condition) or not (body invisible condition). Reach end-points are analyzed in light of the coupling prior framework, where the extension of PPS is taken to be represented by the spatial dispersion of the coupling prior between visual and proprioceptive estimates of arm location. Results demonstrate that if the body is not visible, the spatial dispersion of the visuo-proprioceptive coupling relaxes, whereas the strength of coupling remains stable. By demonstrating a distance-dependent alteration in visual and proprioceptive localization attractive pull toward one another (stronger pull at small spatial discrepancies) when the body is rendered invisible - an effect that is well accounted for by the visuo-proprioceptive coupling prior - the results suggest that the visible body grounds visuo-proprioceptive coupling preferentially in the near vs. far space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Noel
- Oculus Research, Facebook Inc., Redmond, WA, USA.,Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Majed Samad
- Oculus Research, Facebook Inc., Redmond, WA, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Andrew Doxon
- Oculus Research, Facebook Inc., Redmond, WA, USA
| | - Justin Clark
- Oculus Research, Facebook Inc., Redmond, WA, USA
| | - Sean Keller
- Oculus Research, Facebook Inc., Redmond, WA, USA
| | - Massimiliano Di Luca
- Oculus Research, Facebook Inc., Redmond, WA, USA. .,Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
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20
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Millière R, Carhart-Harris RL, Roseman L, Trautwein FM, Berkovich-Ohana A. Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1475. [PMID: 30245648 PMCID: PMC6137697 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 113] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2018] [Accepted: 07/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, the scientific study of meditation and psychedelic drugs has seen remarkable developments. The increased focus on meditation in cognitive neuroscience has led to a cross-cultural classification of standard meditation styles validated by functional and structural neuroanatomical data. Meanwhile, the renaissance of psychedelic research has shed light on the neurophysiology of altered states of consciousness induced by classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, whose effects are mainly mediated by agonism of serotonin receptors. Few attempts have been made at bridging these two domains of inquiry, despite intriguing evidence of overlap between the phenomenology and neurophysiology of meditation practice and psychedelic states. In particular, many contemplative traditions explicitly aim at dissolving the sense of self by eliciting altered states of consciousness through meditation, while classical psychedelics are known to produce significant disruptions of self-consciousness, a phenomenon known as drug-induced ego dissolution. In this article, we discuss available evidence regarding convergences and differences between phenomenological and neurophysiological data on meditation practice and psychedelic drug-induced states, with a particular emphasis on alterations of self-experience. While both meditation and psychedelics may disrupt self-consciousness and underlying neural processes, we emphasize that neither meditation nor psychedelic states can be conceived as simple, uniform categories. Moreover, we suggest that there are important phenomenological differences even between conscious states described as experiences of self-loss. As a result, we propose that self-consciousness may be best construed as a multidimensional construct, and that "self-loss," far from being an unequivocal phenomenon, can take several forms. Indeed, various aspects of self-consciousness, including narrative aspects linked to autobiographical memory, self-related thoughts and mental time travel, and embodied aspects rooted in multisensory processes, may be differently affected by psychedelics and meditation practices. Finally, we consider long-term outcomes of experiences of self-loss induced by meditation and psychedelics on individual traits and prosocial behavior. We call for caution regarding the problematic conflation of temporary states of self-loss with "selflessness" as a behavioral or social trait, although there is preliminary evidence that correlations between short-term experiences of self-loss and long-term trait alterations may exist.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphaël Millière
- Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Robin L. Carhart-Harris
- Psychedelic Research Group, Psychopharmacology Unit, Department of Medicine, Centre for Psychiatry, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Leor Roseman
- Psychedelic Research Group, Psychopharmacology Unit, Department of Medicine, Centre for Psychiatry, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Fynn-Mathis Trautwein
- Department of Social Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Aviva Berkovich-Ohana
- Faculty of Education, Edmond Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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21
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Noel JP, Blanke O, Serino A. From multisensory integration in peripersonal space to bodily self-consciousness: from statistical regularities to statistical inference. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2018; 1426:146-165. [PMID: 29876922 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2017] [Revised: 04/24/2018] [Accepted: 05/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Integrating information across sensory systems is a critical step toward building a cohesive representation of the environment and one's body, and as illustrated by numerous illusions, scaffolds subjective experience of the world and self. In the last years, classic principles of multisensory integration elucidated in the subcortex have been translated into the language of statistical inference understood by the neocortical mantle. Most importantly, a mechanistic systems-level description of multisensory computations via probabilistic population coding and divisive normalization is actively being put forward. In parallel, by describing and understanding bodily illusions, researchers have suggested multisensory integration of bodily inputs within the peripersonal space as a key mechanism in bodily self-consciousness. Importantly, certain aspects of bodily self-consciousness, although still very much a minority, have been recently casted under the light of modern computational understandings of multisensory integration. In doing so, we argue, the field of bodily self-consciousness may borrow mechanistic descriptions regarding the neural implementation of inference computations outlined by the multisensory field. This computational approach, leveraged on the understanding of multisensory processes generally, promises to advance scientific comprehension regarding one of the most mysterious questions puzzling humankind, that is, how our brain creates the experience of a self in interaction with the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Noel
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience (LNCO), Center for Neuroprosthetics (CNP), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Neurology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Serino
- MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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22
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Pasqualini I, Blefari ML, Tadi T, Serino A, Blanke O. The Architectonic Experience of Body and Space in Augmented Interiors. Front Psychol 2018; 9:375. [PMID: 29755378 PMCID: PMC5932369 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The environment shapes our experience of space in constant interaction with the body. Architectonic interiors amplify the perception of space through the bodily senses; an effect also known as embodiment. The interaction of the bodily senses with the space surrounding the body can be tested experimentally through the manipulation of multisensory stimulation and measured via a range of behaviors related to bodily self-consciousness. Many studies have used Virtual Reality to show that visuotactile conflicts mediated via a virtual body or avatar can disrupt the unified subjective experience of the body and self. In the full-body illusion paradigm, participants feel as if the avatar was their body (ownership, self-identification) and they shift their center of awareness toward the position of the avatar (self-location). However, the influence of non-bodily spatial cues around the body on embodiment remains unclear, and data about the impact of architectonic space on human perception and self-conscious states are sparse. We placed participants into a Virtual Reality arena, where large and narrow virtual interiors were displayed with and without an avatar. We then applied synchronous or asynchronous visuotactile strokes to the back of the participants and avatar, or, to the front wall of the void interiors. During conditions of illusory self-identification with the avatar, participants reported sensations of containment, drift, and touch with the architectonic environment. The absence of the avatar suppressed such feelings, yet, in the large space, we found an effect of continuity between the physical and the virtual interior depending on the full-body illusion. We discuss subjective feelings evoked by architecture and compare the full-body illusion in augmented interiors to architectonic embodiment. A relevant outcome of this study is the potential to dissociate the egocentric, first-person view from the physical point of view through augmented architectonic space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabella Pasqualini
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Atelier de la Conception de l'Espace, Institute of Architecture and the City, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Maria Laura Blefari
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Defitech Chair in Brain-Machine Interface, Institute of Bioengineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Tej Tadi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Serino
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
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23
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Noel JP, Stevenson RA, Wallace MT. Atypical audiovisual temporal function in autism and schizophrenia: similar phenotype, different cause. Eur J Neurosci 2018; 47:1230-1241. [PMID: 29575155 PMCID: PMC5980744 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2017] [Revised: 03/08/2018] [Accepted: 03/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Binding across sensory modalities yields substantial perceptual benefits, including enhanced speech intelligibility. The coincidence of sensory inputs across time is a fundamental cue for this integration process. Recent work has suggested that individuals with diagnoses of schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will characterize auditory and visual events as synchronous over larger temporal disparities than their neurotypical counterparts. Namely, these clinical populations possess an enlarged temporal binding window (TBW). Although patients with SZ and ASD share aspects of their symptomatology, phenotypic similarities may result from distinct etiologies. To examine similarities and variances in audiovisual temporal function in these two populations, individuals diagnosed with ASD (n = 46; controls n = 40) and SZ (n = 16, controls = 16) completed an audiovisual simultaneity judgment task. In addition to standard psychometric analyses, synchrony judgments were assessed using Bayesian causal inference modeling. This approach permits distinguishing between distinct causes of an enlarged TBW: an a priori bias to bind sensory information and poor fidelity in the sensory representation. Findings indicate that both ASD and SZ populations show deficits in multisensory temporal acuity. Importantly, results suggest that while the wider TBWs in ASD most prominently results from atypical priors, the wider TBWs in SZ results from a trend toward changes in prior and weaknesses in the sensory representations. Results are discussed in light of current ASD and SZ theories and highlight that different perceptual training paradigms focused on improving multisensory integration may be most effective in these two clinical populations and emphasize that similar phenotypes may emanate from distinct mechanistic causes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Noel
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Ryan A. Stevenson
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
- Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
- Program in Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Mark T. Wallace
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Hearing and Speech, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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