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Bernasconi F, Blondiaux E, Rognini G, Dhanis H, Jenni L, Potheegadoo J, Hara M, Blanke O. Neuroscience robotics for controlled induction and real-time assessment of hallucinations. Nat Protoc 2022; 17:2966-2989. [PMID: 36097181 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-022-00737-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Although hallucinations are important and frequent symptoms in major psychiatric and neurological diseases, little is known about their brain mechanisms. Hallucinations are unpredictable and private experiences, making their investigation, quantification and assessment highly challenging. A major shortcoming in hallucination research is the absence of methods able to induce specific and short-lasting hallucinations, which resemble clinical hallucinations, can be elicited repeatedly and vary across experimental conditions. By integrating clinical observations and recent advances in cognitive neuroscience with robotics, we have designed a novel device and sensorimotor method able to repeatedly induce a specific, clinically relevant hallucination: presence hallucination. Presence hallucinations are induced by applying specific conflicting (spatiotemporal) sensorimotor stimulation including an upper extremity and the torso of the participant. Another, MRI-compatible, robotic device using similar sensorimotor stimulation permitted the identification of the brain mechanisms of these hallucinations. Enabling the identification of behavioral and a frontotemporal neural biomarkers of hallucinations, under fully controlled experimental conditions and in real-time, this method can be applied in healthy participants as well as patients with schizophrenia, neurodegenerative disease or other hallucinations. The execution of these protocols requires intermediate-level skills in cognitive neuroscience and MRI processing, as well as minimal coding experience to control the robotic device. These protocols take ~3 h to be completed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fosco Bernasconi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Eva Blondiaux
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Giulio Rognini
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Herberto Dhanis
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Laurent Jenni
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jevita Potheegadoo
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Masayuki Hara
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, Japan
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland. .,Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
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Ionta S. Visual Neuropsychology in Development: Anatomo-Functional Brain Mechanisms of Action/Perception Binding in Health and Disease. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:689912. [PMID: 34135745 PMCID: PMC8203289 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.689912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision is the main entrance for environmental input to the human brain. Even if vision is our most used sensory modality, its importance is not limited to environmental exploration. Rather it has strong links to motor competences, further extending to cognitive and social aspects of human life. These multifaceted relationships are particularly important in developmental age and become dramatically evident in presence of complex deficits originating from visual aberrancies. The present review summarizes the available neuropsychological evidence on the development of visual competences, with a particular focus on the associated visuo-motor integration skills in health and disease. With the aim of supporting future research and interventional settings, the goal of the present review is to constitute a solid base to help the translation of neuropsychological hypotheses into straightforward empirical investigations and rehabilitation/training protocols. This approach will further increase the impact, ameliorate the acceptance, and ease the use and implementation of lab-derived intervention protocols in real-life situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvio Ionta
- Sensory-Motor Lab (SeMoLa), Department of Ophthalmology-University of Lausanne, Jules Gonin Eye Hospital-Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Lausanne, Switzerland
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3
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Abstract
Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by incongruence between one's identity and gender assigned at birth. The biological mechanisms of GD are unclear. We investigated brain network connectivity patterns involved in own body perception in the context of self in GD. Twenty-seven female-to-male (FtM) individuals with GD, 27 male controls, and 27 female controls underwent resting state fMRI. We compared functional connections within intrinsic connectivity networks involved in self-referential processes and own body perception -default mode network (DMN) and salience network - and visual networks, using independent components analyses. Behavioral correlates of network connectivity were also tested using self-perception ratings while viewing own body images morphed to their sex assigned at birth, and to the sex of their gender identity. FtM exhibited decreased connectivity of anterior and posterior cingulate and precuneus within the DMN compared with controls. In FtM, higher "self" ratings for bodies morphed towards the sex of their gender identity were associated with greater connectivity of the anterior cingulate within the DMN, during long viewing times. In controls, higher ratings for bodies morphed towards their gender assigned at birth were associated with right insula connectivity within the salience network, during short viewing times. Within visual networks FtM showed weaker connectivity in occipital and temporal regions. Results suggest disconnectivity within networks involved in own body perception in the context of self in GD. Moreover, perception of bodies in relation to self may be reflective rather than reflexive, as a function of mesial prefrontal processes. These may represent neurobiological correlates to the subjective disconnection between perception of body and self-identification.
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Lopez C, Elzière M. Out-of-body experience in vestibular disorders – A prospective study of 210 patients with dizziness. Cortex 2018; 104:193-206. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2016] [Revised: 05/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Manzouri A, Kosidou K, Savic I. Anatomical and Functional Findings in Female-to-Male Transsexuals: Testing a New Hypothesis. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:998-1010. [PMID: 26637450 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by incongruence between onés gender assigned at birth and the gender that one identifies with. The biological mechanisms of GD are unclear, especially in female-to-male transsexuals (FtM-TR). Here, we investigate whether distinct structural and functional patterns along cerebral midline networks processing own-body perception may constitute a biological correlate. METHOD MRI of functional connectivity, cortical thickness, surface area, and gray matter volume was carried out in 28 female-to-male transsexuals (FtM-TR) and 68 cis-sexual controls (34 male). FtM-TR displayed thicker mid-frontal, precuneal-parietal, and lingual cortex than both male and female controls, whereas, in regions with reported anatomical sex differences among the controls, FtM-TR followed patterns of the gender assigned at their birth. FtM-TR also displayed weaker functional connections from the pregenual anterior cingulate to the insular cortex, and the temporo parietal junction compared with both control groups. Distinct structural and functional pattern in the own-body image network may represent biological markers for the dysphoric own-body perception in transgender individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Manzouri
- Department of Women's and Children's Health and Neurology Clinic, Karolinska Institute and University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - K Kosidou
- Gender team, Psychiatry Southwest, Karolinska University Hospital and Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - I Savic
- Department of Women's and Children's Health and Neurology Clinic, Karolinska Institute and University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
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Olivé I, Densmore M, Harricharan S, Théberge J, McKinnon MC, Lanius R. Superior colliculus resting state networks in post-traumatic stress disorder and its dissociative subtype. Hum Brain Mapp 2017; 39:563-574. [PMID: 29134717 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2017] [Revised: 09/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The innate alarm system (IAS) models the neurocircuitry involved in threat processing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here, we investigate a primary subcortical structure of the IAS model, the superior colliculus (SC), where the SC is thought to contribute to the mechanisms underlying threat-detection in PTSD. Critically, the functional connectivity between the SC and other nodes of the IAS remains unexplored. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We conducted a resting-state fMRI study to investigate the functional architecture of the IAS, focusing on connectivity of the SC in PTSD (n = 67), its dissociative subtype (n = 41), and healthy controls (n = 50) using region-of-interest seed-based analysis. PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS We observed group-specific resting state functional connectivity between the SC for both PTSD and its dissociative subtype, indicative of dedicated IAS collicular pathways in each group of patients. When comparing PTSD to its dissociative subtype, we observed increased resting state functional connectivity between the left SC and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in PTSD. The DLPFC is involved in modulation of emotional processes associated with active defensive responses characterising PTSD. Moreover, when comparing PTSD to its dissociative subtype, increased resting state functional connectivity was observed between the right SC and the right temporoparietal junction in the dissociative subtype. The temporoparietal junction is involved in depersonalization responses associated with passive defensive responses typical of the dissociative subtype. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that unique resting state functional connectivity of the SC parallels the unique symptom profile and defensive responses observed in PTSD and its dissociative subtype. Hum Brain Mapp 39:563-574, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isadora Olivé
- Departments of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Maria Densmore
- Departments of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Imaging Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sherain Harricharan
- Departments of Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jean Théberge
- Departments of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Imaging Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.,Departments of Medical Imaging and Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Diagnostic Imaging, St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Margaret C McKinnon
- St. Joseph's Healthcare, Mood Disorders Program, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.,Homewood Health Care Research Institute, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ruth Lanius
- Departments of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Imaging Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.,Departments of Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
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Igelström KM, Graziano MS. The inferior parietal lobule and temporoparietal junction: A network perspective. Neuropsychologia 2017; 105:70-83. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2016] [Revised: 12/28/2016] [Accepted: 01/02/2017] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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8
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Van Ombergen A, Wuyts FL, Jeurissen B, Sijbers J, Vanhevel F, Jillings S, Parizel PM, Sunaert S, Van de Heyning PH, Dousset V, Laureys S, Demertzi A. Intrinsic functional connectivity reduces after first-time exposure to short-term gravitational alterations induced by parabolic flight. Sci Rep 2017; 7:3061. [PMID: 28607373 PMCID: PMC5468234 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03170-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Spaceflight severely impacts the human body. However, little is known about how gravity and gravitational alterations affect the human brain. Here, we aimed at measuring the effects of acute exposure to gravity transitions. We exposed 28 naïve participants to repetitive alterations between normal, hyper- and microgravity induced by a parabolic flight (PF) and measured functional MRI connectivity changes. Scans were acquired before and after the PF. To mitigate motion sickness, PF participants received scopolamine prior to PF. To account for the scopolamine effects, 12 non-PF controls were scanned prior to and after scopolamine injection. Changes in functional connectivity were explored with the Intrinsic Connectivity Contrast (ICC). Seed-based analysis on the regions exhibiting localized changes was subsequently performed to understand the networks associated with the identified nodes. We found that the PF group was characterized by lower ICC scores in the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ), an area involved in multisensory integration and spatial tasks. The encompassed network revealed PF-related decreases in within- and inter-hemispheric anticorrelations between the rTPJ and the supramarginal gyri, indicating both altered vestibular and self-related functions. Our findings shed light on how the brain copes with gravity transitions, on gravity internalization and are relevant for the understanding of bodily self-consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelique Van Ombergen
- Antwerp University Research Centre for Equilibrium and Aerospace (AUREA), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Floris L Wuyts
- Antwerp University Research Centre for Equilibrium and Aerospace (AUREA), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
| | - Ben Jeurissen
- Vision Lab, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Jan Sijbers
- Vision Lab, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Floris Vanhevel
- Department of Radiology, Antwerp University Hospital & University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Steven Jillings
- Antwerp University Research Centre for Equilibrium and Aerospace (AUREA), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Paul M Parizel
- Department of Radiology, Antwerp University Hospital & University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Stefan Sunaert
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Imaging & Pathology, Translational MRI, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Paul H Van de Heyning
- Antwerp University Research Centre for Equilibrium and Aerospace (AUREA), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Vincent Dousset
- University of Bordeaux, CHU de Bordeaux, INSERM Magendie, Bordeaux, France
| | - Steven Laureys
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Research & Neurology Department, University and University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Athena Demertzi
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Research & Neurology Department, University and University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière - Brain and Spine Insititute, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
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9
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Dieguez S, Lopez C. The bodily self: Insights from clinical and experimental research. Ann Phys Rehabil Med 2017; 60:198-207. [DOI: 10.1016/j.rehab.2016.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2016] [Revised: 04/26/2016] [Accepted: 04/28/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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10
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Deroualle D, Toupet M, van Nechel C, Duquesne U, Hautefort C, Lopez C. Anchoring the Self to the Body in Bilateral Vestibular Failure. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0170488. [PMID: 28107424 PMCID: PMC5249123 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent findings suggest that vestibular information plays a significant role in anchoring the self to the body. Out-of-body experiences of neurological origin are frequently associated with vestibular sensations, and galvanic vestibular stimulation in healthy participants anchors the self to the body. Here, we provide the first objective measures of anchoring the self to the body in chronic bilateral vestibular failure (BVF). We compared 23 patients with idiopathic BVF to 23 healthy participants in a series of experiments addressing several aspects of visuo-spatial perspective taking and embodiment. In Experiment 1, participants were involved in a virtual "dot-counting task" from their own perspective or the perspective of a distant avatar, to measure implicit and explicit perspective taking, respectively. In both groups, response times increased similarly when the avatar's and participant's viewpoint differed, for both implicit and explicit perspective taking. In Experiment 2, participants named ambiguous letters (such as "b" or "q") traced on their forehead that could be perceived from an internal or external perspective. The frequency of perceiving ambiguous letters from an internal perspective was similar in both groups. In Experiment 3, participants completed a questionnaire measuring the experienced self/body and self/environment "closeness". Both groups reported a similar embodied experience. Altogether, our data show that idiopathic BVF does not change implicit and explicit perspective taking nor subjective anchoring of the self to the body. Our negative findings offer insight into the multisensory mechanisms of embodiment. Only acute peripheral vestibular disorders and neurological disorders in vestibular brain areas (characterized by strong multisensory conflicts) may evoke disembodied experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michel Toupet
- IRON, Institut de Recherche en Oto-Neurologie, Paris, France
- Centre d’Explorations Fonctionnelles Oto-Neurologiques, Paris, France
| | - Christian van Nechel
- IRON, Institut de Recherche en Oto-Neurologie, Paris, France
- Unité Troubles de l’Equilibre et Vertiges, CHU Brugmann, Bruxelles, Belgique
- Unité de Neuro-Ophtalmologie, CHU Erasme, Bruxelles, Belgique
- Clinique des Vertiges, Bruxelles, Belgique
| | - Ulla Duquesne
- IRON, Institut de Recherche en Oto-Neurologie, Paris, France
- Unité Troubles de l’Equilibre et Vertiges, CHU Brugmann, Bruxelles, Belgique
- Clinique des Vertiges, Bruxelles, Belgique
| | - Charlotte Hautefort
- IRON, Institut de Recherche en Oto-Neurologie, Paris, France
- Service ORL, Hôpital Lariboisière, Paris, France
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Research on Experiences Related to the Possibility of Consciousness Beyond the Brain: A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Scientific Output. J Nerv Ment Dis 2017; 205:37-47. [PMID: 27922909 DOI: 10.1097/nmd.0000000000000625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This study aims to conduct a search of publications investigating experiences commonly associated with the possibility of the existence of a consciousness independent of the brain held on the main scientific databases (Pubmed, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Science Direct, and Scopus). Of the 9065 articles retrieved, 1954 were included (598 near-death experiences, 223 out-of-body experiences, 56 end-of-life experiences, 224 possession, 244 memories suggestive of past lives, 565 mediumship, 44 others). Over the decades, there was an evident increase in the number of articles on all the areas of the field, with the exception of studies on mediumship that showed a decline during the late 20th century and subsequent rise in the early 21st century. Regarding the types of articles found, with the exception of past-life memories and end-of-life experiences (mostly original studies), publications were predominantly review articles. The articles were published in journals with an impact factor similar to other areas of science.
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13
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In the presence of others: Self-location, balance control and vestibular processing. Neurophysiol Clin 2015; 45:241-54. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neucli.2015.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2015] [Revised: 09/10/2015] [Accepted: 09/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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Changing perspective: The role of vestibular signals. Neuropsychologia 2015; 79:175-85. [PMID: 26311354 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.08.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2015] [Revised: 07/20/2015] [Accepted: 08/21/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Social interactions depend on mechanisms such as the ability to take another person's viewpoint, i.e. visuo-spatial perspective taking. However, little is known about the sensorimotor mechanisms underpinning perspective taking. Because vestibular signals play roles in mental rotation and spatial cognition tasks and because damage to the vestibular cortex can disturb egocentric perspective, vestibular signals stand as important candidates for the sensorimotor foundations of perspective taking. Yet, no study merged natural full-body vestibular stimulations and explicit visuo-spatial perspective taking tasks in virtual environments. In Experiment 1, we combined natural vestibular stimulation on a rotatory chair with virtual reality to test how vestibular signals are processed to simulate the viewpoint of a distant avatar. While they were rotated, participants tossed a ball to a virtual character from the viewpoint of a distant avatar. Our results showed that vestibular signals influence perspective taking in a direction-specific way: participants were faster when their physical body rotated in the same direction as the mental rotation needed to take the avatar's viewpoint. In Experiment 2, participants realized 3D object mental rotations, which did not involve perspective taking, during the same whole-body vestibular stimulation. Our results demonstrated that vestibular stimulation did not affect 3D object mental rotations. Altogether, these data indicate that vestibular signals have a direction-specific influence on visuo-spatial perspective taking (self-centered mental imagery), but not a general effect on mental imagery. Findings from this study suggest that vestibular signals contribute to one of the most crucial mechanisms of social cognition: understanding others' actions.
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Olivé I, Tempelmann C, Berthoz A, Heinze HJ. Increased functional connectivity between superior colliculus and brain regions implicated in bodily self-consciousness during the rubber hand illusion. Hum Brain Mapp 2014; 36:717-30. [PMID: 25346407 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2014] [Revised: 09/01/2014] [Accepted: 10/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Bodily self-consciousness refers to bodily processes operating at personal, peripersonal, and extrapersonal spatial dimensions. Although the neural underpinnings of representations of personal and peripersonal space associated with bodily self-consciousness were thoroughly investigated, relatively few is known about the neural underpinnings of representations of extrapersonal space relevant for bodily self-consciousness. In the search to unravel brain structures generating a representation of the extrapersonal space relevant for bodily self-consciousness, we developed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to investigate the implication of the superior colliculus (SC) in bodily illusions, and more specifically in the rubber hand illusion (RHi), which constitutes an established paradigm to study the neural underpinnings of bodily self-consciousness. We observed activation of the colliculus ipsilateral to the manipulated hand associated with eliciting of RHi. A generalized form of context-dependent psychophysiological interaction analysis unravelled increased illusion-dependent functional connectivity between the SC and some of the main brain areas previously involved in bodily self-consciousness: right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), bilateral ventral premotor cortex (vPM), and bilateral postcentral gyrus. We hypothesize that the collicular map of the extrapersonal space interacts with maps of the peripersonal and personal space generated at rTPJ, vPM and the postcentral gyrus, producing a unified representation of space that is relevant for bodily self-consciousness. We suggest that processes of multisensory integration of bodily-related sensory inputs located in this unified representation of space constitute one main factor underpinning emergence of bodily self-consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isadora Olivé
- Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Otto-von-Guerrick Universität Magdeburg, Leipziger Chaussee 44 39120 Magdeburg SA, Deutschland; Laboratoire de Physiologie de l'Action et de la Perception, UMR 7152, Collège de France CNRS. 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005, Paris, France
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Fang T, Yan R, Fang F. Spontaneous out-of-body experience in a child with refractory right temporoparietal epilepsy. J Neurosurg Pediatr 2014; 14:396-9. [PMID: 25062304 DOI: 10.3171/2014.6.peds13485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The authors describe the case of a spontaneous out-of-body experience (OBE) in a 15-year-old right-handed boy with intractable epilepsy in whom psychosis had been misdiagnosed. After successful resection of a right temporoparietal focal cortical dysplasia, the OBE and seizures resolved. The authors analyzed the underlying causes of the OBE and discussed the mechanism of the OBE caused by an epileptic lesion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tie Fang
- Beijing Institute of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University
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Mazzola L, Lopez C, Faillenot I, Chouchou F, Mauguière F, Isnard J. Vestibular responses to direct stimulation of the human insular cortex. Ann Neurol 2014; 76:609-19. [DOI: 10.1002/ana.24252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2013] [Revised: 08/08/2014] [Accepted: 08/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laure Mazzola
- Neurology Department; University Hospital; St-Etienne
- Team “Central Integration of Pain”; Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit 1028, National Center for Scientific Research Mixed Unit of Research 5292; Lyon
- Jean Monnet University; St-Etienne
| | - Christophe Lopez
- Aix Marseille University, National Center for Scientific Research, Integrative and Adaptative Neurosciences Mixed Unit of Research 7260; Marseille
| | - Isabelle Faillenot
- Neurology Department; University Hospital; St-Etienne
- Team “Central Integration of Pain”; Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit 1028, National Center for Scientific Research Mixed Unit of Research 5292; Lyon
- Jean Monnet University; St-Etienne
| | - Florian Chouchou
- Team “Central Integration of Pain”; Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit 1028, National Center for Scientific Research Mixed Unit of Research 5292; Lyon
| | - François Mauguière
- Team “Central Integration of Pain”; Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit 1028, National Center for Scientific Research Mixed Unit of Research 5292; Lyon
- Functional Neurology and Epilepsy Department; Neurological Hospital, Civil Hospices of Lyon; Lyon
- Claude Bernard University; Lyon France
| | - Jean Isnard
- Team “Central Integration of Pain”; Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit 1028, National Center for Scientific Research Mixed Unit of Research 5292; Lyon
- Functional Neurology and Epilepsy Department; Neurological Hospital, Civil Hospices of Lyon; Lyon
- Claude Bernard University; Lyon France
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Hashemi N, Scranton RA, Hashemi M, Lee AG. Visual hallucinations: a review for ophthalmologists. EXPERT REVIEW OF OPHTHALMOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1586/eop.12.53] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Christopeit M, Simeon D, Urban N, Gowatsky J, Lisanby SH, Mantovani A. Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) on Specific Symptom Clusters in Depersonalization Disorder (DPD). Brain Stimul 2014; 7:141-3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2013.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2013] [Accepted: 07/15/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
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Lopez C. A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness. Front Integr Neurosci 2013; 7:91. [PMID: 24367303 PMCID: PMC3853866 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2013.00091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2013] [Accepted: 11/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The consequences of vestibular disorders on balance, oculomotor control, and self-motion perception have been extensively described in humans and animals. More recently, vestibular disorders have been related to cognitive deficits in spatial navigation and memory tasks. Less frequently, abnormal bodily perceptions have been described in patients with vestibular disorders. Altered forms of bodily self-consciousness include distorted body image and body schema, disembodied self-location (out-of-body experience), altered sense of agency, as well as more complex experiences of dissociation and detachment from the self (depersonalization). In this article, I suggest that vestibular disorders create sensory conflict or mismatch in multisensory brain regions, producing perceptual incoherence and abnormal body and self perceptions. This hypothesis is based on recent functional mapping of the human vestibular cortex, showing vestibular projections to the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex and in several multisensory areas found to be crucial for bodily self-consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Lopez
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Adaptatives - UMR 7260, Centre Saint Charles, Fédération de Recherche 3C, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Aix-Marseille Université Marseille, France
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Pfeiffer C, Lopez C, Schmutz V, Duenas JA, Martuzzi R, Blanke O. Multisensory origin of the subjective first-person perspective: visual, tactile, and vestibular mechanisms. PLoS One 2013; 8:e61751. [PMID: 23630611 PMCID: PMC3632612 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2012] [Accepted: 03/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In three experiments we investigated the effects of visuo-tactile and visuo-vestibular conflict about the direction of gravity on three aspects of bodily self-consciousness: self-identification, self-location, and the experienced direction of the first-person perspective. Robotic visuo-tactile stimulation was administered to 78 participants in three experiments. Additionally, we presented participants with a virtual body as seen from an elevated and downward-directed perspective while they were lying supine and were therefore receiving vestibular and postural cues about an upward-directed perspective. Under these conditions, we studied the effects of different degrees of visuo-vestibular conflict, repeated measurements during illusion induction, and the relationship to a classical measure of visuo-vestibular integration. Extending earlier findings on experimentally induced changes in bodily self-consciousness, we show that self-identification does not depend on the experienced direction of the first-person perspective, whereas self-location does. Changes in bodily self-consciousness depend on visual gravitational signals. Individual differences in the experienced direction of first-person perspective correlated with individual differences in visuo-vestibular integration. Our data reveal important contributions of visuo-vestibular gravitational cues to bodily self-consciousness. In particular we show that the experienced direction of the first-person perspective depends on the integration of visual, vestibular, and tactile signals, as well as on individual differences in idiosyncratic visuo-vestibular strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Pfeiffer
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Christophe Lopez
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Adaptatives, UMR 7260, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
| | - Valentin Schmutz
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Julio Angel Duenas
- Rehabilitation Engineering Lab, Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Roberto Martuzzi
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
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Distinct illusory own-body perceptions caused by damage to posterior insula and extrastriate cortex. Brain 2013; 136:790-803. [DOI: 10.1093/brain/aws364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 109] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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Lopez C, Schreyer HM, Preuss N, Mast FW. Vestibular stimulation modifies the body schema. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:1830-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2011] [Revised: 03/21/2012] [Accepted: 04/10/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Lopez C, Blanke O, Mast FW. The human vestibular cortex revealed by coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Neuroscience 2012; 212:159-79. [PMID: 22516007 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.03.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 296] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2011] [Revised: 03/14/2012] [Accepted: 03/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The vestibular system contributes to the control of posture and eye movements and is also involved in various cognitive functions including spatial navigation and memory. These functions are subtended by projections to a vestibular cortex, whose exact location in the human brain is still a matter of debate (Lopez and Blanke, 2011). The vestibular cortex can be defined as the network of all cortical areas receiving inputs from the vestibular system, including areas where vestibular signals influence the processing of other sensory (e.g. somatosensory and visual) and motor signals. Previous neuroimaging studies used caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS), galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), and auditory stimulation (clicks and short-tone bursts) to activate the vestibular receptors and localize the vestibular cortex. However, these three methods differ regarding the receptors stimulated (otoliths, semicircular canals) and the concurrent activation of the tactile, thermal, nociceptive and auditory systems. To evaluate the convergence between these methods and provide a statistical analysis of the localization of the human vestibular cortex, we performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies using CVS, GVS, and auditory stimuli. We analyzed a total of 352 activation foci reported in 16 studies carried out in a total of 192 healthy participants. The results reveal that the main regions activated by CVS, GVS, or auditory stimuli were located in the Sylvian fissure, insula, retroinsular cortex, fronto-parietal operculum, superior temporal gyrus, and cingulate cortex. Conjunction analysis indicated that regions showing convergence between two stimulation methods were located in the median (short gyrus III) and posterior (long gyrus IV) insula, parietal operculum and retroinsular cortex (Ri). The only area of convergence between all three methods of stimulation was located in Ri. The data indicate that Ri, parietal operculum and posterior insula are vestibular regions where afferents converge from otoliths and semicircular canals, and may thus be involved in the processing of signals informing about body rotations, translations and tilts. Results from the meta-analysis are in agreement with electrophysiological recordings in monkeys showing main vestibular projections in the transitional zone between Ri, the insular granular field (Ig), and SII.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Lopez
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
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Ionta S, Gassert R, Blanke O. Multi-sensory and sensorimotor foundation of bodily self-consciousness - an interdisciplinary approach. Front Psychol 2011; 2:383. [PMID: 22207860 PMCID: PMC3245631 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2011] [Accepted: 12/05/2011] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Scientific investigations on the nature of the self have so far focused on high-level mechanisms. Recent evidence, however, suggests that low-level bottom-up mechanisms of multi-sensory integration play a fundamental role in encoding specific components of bodily self-consciousness, such as self-location and first-person perspective (Blanke and Metzinger, 2009). Self-location and first-person perspective are abnormal in neurological patients suffering from out-of-body experiences (Blanke et al., 2004), and can be manipulated experimentally in healthy subjects by imposing multi-sensory conflicts (Lenggenhager et al., 2009). Activity of the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) reflects experimentally induced changes in self-location and first-person perspective (Ionta et al., 2011), and dysfunctions in TPJ are causally associated with out-of-body experiences (Blanke et al., 2002). We argue that TPJ is one of the key areas for multi-sensory integration of bodily self-consciousness, that its levels of activity reflect the experience of the conscious "I" as embodied and localized within bodily space, and that these mechanisms can be systematically investigated using state of the art technologies such as robotics, virtual reality, and non-invasive neuroimaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvio Ionta
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland
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