1
|
Meyer NH, Gauthier B, Stampacchia S, Boscheron J, Babo-Rebelo M, Potheegadoo J, Herbelin B, Lance F, Alvarez V, Franc E, Esposito F, Morais Lacerda M, Blanke O. Embodiment in episodic memory through premotor-hippocampal coupling. Commun Biol 2024; 7:1111. [PMID: 39256570 PMCID: PMC11387647 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06757-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 08/20/2024] [Indexed: 09/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Episodic memory (EM) allows us to remember and relive past events and experiences and has been linked to cortical-hippocampal reinstatement of encoding activity. While EM is fundamental to establish a sense of self across time, this claim and its link to the sense of agency (SoA), based on bodily signals, has not been tested experimentally. Using real-time sensorimotor stimulation, immersive virtual reality, and fMRI we manipulated the SoA and report stronger hippocampal reinstatement for scenes encoded under preserved SoA, reflecting recall performance in a recognition task. We link SoA to EM showing that hippocampal reinstatement is coupled with reinstatement in premotor cortex, a key SoA region. We extend these findings in a severe amnesic patient whose memory lacked the normal dependency on the SoA. Premotor-hippocampal coupling in EM describes how a key aspect of the bodily self at encoding is neurally reinstated during the retrieval of past episodes, enabling a sense of self across time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Heidi Meyer
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Baptiste Gauthier
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
- Clinical Research Unit, Neuchâtel Hospital Network, 2000, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Sara Stampacchia
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Juliette Boscheron
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Mariana Babo-Rebelo
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jevita Potheegadoo
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Bruno Herbelin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Florian Lance
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Vincent Alvarez
- Hopital du Valais, Avenue Grand Champsec 80, 1950, Sion, Switzerland
| | - Elizabeth Franc
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Fabienne Esposito
- Clinique Romande de Réadaptation, SUVA, Avenue Grand Champsec 90, 1950, Sion, Switzerland
| | - Marilia Morais Lacerda
- Clinique Romande de Réadaptation, SUVA, Avenue Grand Champsec 90, 1950, Sion, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Geneva, Rue Micheli-du-Crest 24, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wu HP, Nakul E, Betka S, Lance F, Herbelin B, Blanke O. Out-of-body illusion induced by visual-vestibular stimulation. iScience 2024; 27:108547. [PMID: 38161418 PMCID: PMC10755362 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are characterized by the subjective feeling of being located outside one's physical body and perceiving one's own body from an elevated perspective looking downwards. OBEs have been correlated with abnormal integration of bodily signals, including visual and vestibular information. In two studies, we used mixed reality combined with a motion platform to manipulate visual and vestibular integration in healthy participants. Behavioral data and questionnaires show that congruent visual-vestibular stimulation in a self-centered reference frame induced an OBE-like illusion characterized by elevated self-location and feelings of disembodiment and lightness. The OBE-like illusion was also modulated by individuals' visual field dependency assessed by the Rod and Frame Test. These results show that the manipulation of visual-vestibular stimulation in the present study induces various aspects of OBEs and further link OBE to congruency mechanisms between visual and vestibular gravitational and self-motion cues.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hsin-Ping Wu
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Estelle Nakul
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Sophie Betka
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Florian Lance
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Bruno Herbelin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Loued-Khenissi L, Pfeiffer C, Saxena R, Adarsh S, Scaramuzza D. Microgravity induces overconfidence in perceptual decision-making. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9727. [PMID: 37322248 PMCID: PMC10272216 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36775-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Does gravity affect decision-making? This question comes into sharp focus as plans for interplanetary human space missions solidify. In the framework of Bayesian brain theories, gravity encapsulates a strong prior, anchoring agents to a reference frame via the vestibular system, informing their decisions and possibly their integration of uncertainty. What happens when such a strong prior is altered? We address this question using a self-motion estimation task in a space analog environment under conditions of altered gravity. Two participants were cast as remote drone operators orbiting Mars in a virtual reality environment on board a parabolic flight, where both hyper- and microgravity conditions were induced. From a first-person perspective, participants viewed a drone exiting a cave and had to first predict a collision and then provide a confidence estimate of their response. We evoked uncertainty in the task by manipulating the motion's trajectory angle. Post-decision subjective confidence reports were negatively predicted by stimulus uncertainty, as expected. Uncertainty alone did not impact overt behavioral responses (performance, choice) differentially across gravity conditions. However microgravity predicted higher subjective confidence, especially in interaction with stimulus uncertainty. These results suggest that variables relating to uncertainty affect decision-making distinctly in microgravity, highlighting the possible need for automatized, compensatory mechanisms when considering human factors in space research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leyla Loued-Khenissi
- Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Neuroscience Department, Medical School, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Neuro-X Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Christian Pfeiffer
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rupal Saxena
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Shivam Adarsh
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Davide Scaramuzza
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Betka S, Adler D, Similowski T, Blanke O. Breathing control, brain, and bodily self-consciousness: Toward immersive digiceuticals to alleviate respiratory suffering. Biol Psychol 2022; 171:108329. [PMID: 35452780 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Breathing is peculiar among autonomic functions through several characteristics. It generates a very rich afferent traffic from an array of structures belonging to the respiratory system to various areas of the brain. It is intimately associated with bodily movements. It bears particular relationships with consciousness as its efferent motor control can be automatic or voluntary. In this review within the scope of "respiratory neurophysiology" or "respiratory neuroscience", we describe the physiological organisation of breathing control. We then review findings linking breathing and bodily self-consciousness through respiratory manipulations using virtual reality (VR). After discussing the currently admitted neurophysiological model for dyspnea, as well as a new Bayesian model applied to breathing control, we propose that visuo-respiratory paradigms -as developed in cognitive neuroscience- will foster insights into some of the basic mechanisms of the human respiratory system and will also lead to the development of immersive VR-based digital health tools (i.e. digiceuticals).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Betka
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute and Center for Neuroprosthetics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland.
| | - Dan Adler
- Division of Lung Diseases, University Hospital and Geneva Medical School, University of Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Similowski
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, UMRS1158 Neurophysiologie Respiratoire Expérimentale et Clinique, F-75005 Paris, France; AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire APHP-Sorbonne Université, site Pitié-Salpêtrière, Département R3S (Respiration, Réanimation, Réhabilitation respiratoire, Sommeil), F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute and Center for Neuroprosthetics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital and Geneva Medical School, University of Geneva, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Kwok SC, Xu X, Duan W, Wang X, Tang Y, Allé MC, Berna F. Autobiographical and episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia: A narrative review and proposed agenda for research. Clin Psychol Rev 2021; 83:101956. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 10/04/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
|
6
|
|
7
|
Bréchet L, Mange R, Herbelin B, Theillaud Q, Gauthier B, Serino A, Blanke O. First-person view of one's body in immersive virtual reality: Influence on episodic memory. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0197763. [PMID: 30845269 PMCID: PMC6405051 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2018] [Accepted: 02/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Episodic memories (EMs) are recollections of contextually rich and personally relevant past events. EM has been linked to the sense of self, allowing one to mentally travel back in subjective time and re-experience past events. However, the sense of self has recently been linked to online multisensory processing and bodily self-consciousness (BSC). It is currently unknown whether EM depends on BSC mechanisms. Here, we used a new immersive virtual reality (VR) system that maintained the perceptual richness of life episodes and fully controlled the experimental stimuli during encoding and retrieval, including the participant’s body. Our data reveal a classical EM finding, which shows that memory for complex real-life like scenes decays over time. However, here we also report a novel finding that delayed retrieval performance can be enhanced when participants view their body as part of the virtual scene during encoding. This body effect was not observed when no virtual body or a moving control object was shown, thereby linking the sense of self, and BSC in particular, to EMs. The present VR methodology and the present behavioral findings will enable to study key aspects of EM in healthy participants and may be especially beneficial for the restoration of self-relevant memories in future experiments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucie Bréchet
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Robin Mange
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Bruno Herbelin
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Quentin Theillaud
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Baptiste Gauthier
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Serino
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Nesti A, Rognini G, Herbelin B, Bülthoff HH, Chuang L, Blanke O. Modulation of vection latencies in the full-body illusion. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0209189. [PMID: 30562381 PMCID: PMC6298644 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Current neuroscientific models of bodily self-consciousness (BSC) argue that inaccurate integration of sensory signals leads to altered states of BSC. Indeed, using virtual reality technology, observers viewing a fake or virtual body while being exposed to tactile stimulation of the real body, can experience illusory ownership over-and mislocalization towards-the virtual body (Full-Body Illusion, FBI). Among the sensory inputs contributing to BSC, the vestibular system is believed to play a central role due to its importance in estimating self-motion and orientation. This theory is supported by clinical evidence that vestibular loss patients are more prone to altered BSC states, and by recent experimental evidence that visuo-vestibular conflicts can disrupt BSC in healthy individuals. Nevertheless, the contribution of vestibular information and self-motion perception to BSC remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the relationship between alterations of BSC and self-motion sensitivity in healthy individuals. Fifteen participants were exposed to visuo-vibrotactile conflicts designed to induce an FBI, and subsequently to visual rotations that evoked illusory self-motion (vection). We found that synchronous visuo-vibrotactile stimulation successfully induced the FBI, and further observed a relationship between the strength of the FBI and the time necessary for complete vection to arise. Specifically, higher self-reported FBI scores across synchronous and asynchronous conditions were associated to shorter vection latencies. Our findings are in agreement with clinical observations that vestibular loss patients have higher FBI susceptibility and lower vection latencies, and argue for increased visual over vestibular dependency during altered states of BSC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Nesti
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
- * E-mail: (AN); (OB)
| | - Giulio Rognini
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Bruno Herbelin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Heinrich H. Bülthoff
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Lewis Chuang
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
- * E-mail: (AN); (OB)
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Shaqiri A, Roinishvili M, Kaliuzhna M, Favrod O, Chkonia E, Herzog MH, Blanke O, Salomon R. Rethinking Body Ownership in Schizophrenia: Experimental and Meta-analytical Approaches Show no Evidence for Deficits. Schizophr Bull 2018; 44:643-652. [PMID: 29036731 PMCID: PMC5890460 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbx098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, in which patients experience an abnormal sense of self. While deficits in sensorimotor self-representation (agency) are well documented in schizophrenia, less is known about other aspects of bodily self-representation (body ownership). Here, we tested a large cohort (N = 59) of chronic schizophrenia patients and matched controls (N = 30) on a well-established body illusion paradigm, the Full Body Illusion (FBI). In this paradigm, changes in body ownership are induced through prolonged multisensory stimulation, in which participants are stroked on their back while seeing the stroking on the back of a virtual body. When the felt and seen stroking are synchronous, participants typically feel higher identification with the seen body as well as a drift in self-location towards it. However, when the stroking is asynchronous, no such changes occur. Our results show no evidence for abnormal body ownership in schizophrenia patients. A meta-analysis of previous work corroborates this result. Thus, while schizophrenia patients may be impaired in the sense of agency, their multisensory bodily self-representation, as tested here, seems to be unaffected by the illness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Albulena Shaqiri
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Maya Roinishvili
- Vision Research Laboratory, Beritashvili Centre of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Mariia Kaliuzhna
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Chair in Cognitive Neuroprosthetics, Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Science, EPFL, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Ophélie Favrod
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Eka Chkonia
- Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Michael H Herzog
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Chair in Cognitive Neuroprosthetics, Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Science, EPFL, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Roy Salomon
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| |
Collapse
|