1
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Schaefer M, Kühnel A, Rumpel F, Gärtner M. Altruistic acting caused by a touching hand: neural underpinnings of the Midas touch effect. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022; 17:437-446. [PMID: 34746947 PMCID: PMC9071415 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Giving and receiving touch are some of the most important social stimuli we exchange in daily life. By touching someone, we can communicate various types of information. Previous studies have also demonstrated that interpersonal touch may affect our altruistic behavior. A classic study showed that customers give bigger tips when they are lightly touched by a waitress, which has been called the Midas touch effect. Numerous studies reported similar effects of touch on different kinds of helping or prosocial behaviors. Here, we aim to examine the neural underpinnings of this effect by employing a functional magnetic resonance imaging approach. While lying in the scanner, participants played different rounds of the dictator game, a measure of prosocial behavior. Before each round, participants were touched (or not touched in the control condition) by an experimenter. We found that touching the hand increased the likeliness to behave prosocial (but not the general liking of control stimuli), thereby confirming the Midas touch effect. The effect was predicted by activity in the primary somatosensory cortex, indicating that the somatosensory cortex here plays a causal role in prosocial behavior. We conclude that the tactile modality in social life may be much more important than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anja Kühnel
- Medical School Berlin, Berlin 14197, Germany
| | - Franziska Rumpel
- Otto-von-Guericke Business School Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39106, Germany
| | - Matti Gärtner
- Medical School Berlin, Berlin 14197, Germany
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 12200, Germany
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2
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Akselrod M, Martuzzi R, van der Zwaag W, Blanke O, Serino A. Relation between palm and finger cortical representations in primary somatosensory cortex: A 7T fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:2262-2277. [PMID: 33621380 PMCID: PMC8046155 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25365] [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: 09/07/2020] [Revised: 01/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Many studies focused on the cortical representations of fingers, while the palm is relatively neglected despite its importance for hand function. Here, we investigated palm representation (PR) and its relationship with finger representations (FRs) in primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Few studies in humans suggested that PR is located medially with respect to FRs in S1, yet to date, no study directly quantified the somatotopic organization of PR and the five FRs. Importantly, the link between the somatotopic organization of PR and FRs and their activation properties remains largely unexplored. Using 7T fMRI, we mapped PR and the five FRs at the single subject level. First, we analyzed the cortical distance between PR and FRs to determine their somatotopic organization. Results show that PR was located medially with respect to D5. Second, we tested whether the observed cortical distances would predict the relationship between PR and FRs activations. Using three complementary measures (cross-activations, pattern similarity and resting-state connectivity), we show that the relationship between PR and FRs activations were not determined by their somatotopic organization, that is, there was no gradient moving from D5 to D1, except for resting-state connectivity, which was predicted by the somatotopy. Instead, we show that the representational geometry of PR and FRs activations reflected the physical structure of the hand. Collectively, our findings suggest that the spatial proximity between topographically organized neuronal populations do not necessarily predicts their functional properties, rather the structure of the sensory space (e.g., the hand shape) better describes the observed results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Akselrod
- Laboratory MySpace, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute and Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland.,Minded Program, CMON Unit, Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy
| | - Roberto Martuzzi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute and Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland.,Foundation Campus Biotech Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute and Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Serino
- Laboratory MySpace, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute and Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
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3
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Neural correlates of conscious tactile perception: An analysis of BOLD activation patterns and graph metrics. Neuroimage 2020; 224:117384. [PMID: 32950689 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Revised: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of human consciousness substantially vary in the proposed spatial extent of brain activity associated with conscious perception as well as in the assumed functional alterations within the involved brain regions. Here, we investigate which local and global changes in brain activity accompany conscious somatosensory perception following electrical finger nerve stimulation, and whether there are whole-brain functional network alterations by means of graph metrics. Thirty-eight healthy participants performed a somatosensory detection task and reported their decision confidence during fMRI. For conscious tactile perception in contrast to undetected near-threshold trials (misses), we observed increased BOLD activity in the precuneus, the intraparietal sulcus, the insula, the nucleus accumbens, the inferior frontal gyrus and the contralateral secondary somatosensory cortex. For misses compared to correct rejections, bilateral secondary somatosensory cortices, supplementary motor cortex and insula showed greater activations. The analysis of whole-brain functional network topology for hits, misses and correct rejections, did not result in any significant differences in modularity, participation, clustering or path length, which was supported by Bayes factor statistics. In conclusion, for conscious somatosensory perception, our results are consistent with an involvement of (probably) domain-general brain areas (precuneus, insula, inferior frontal gyrus) in addition to somatosensory regions; our data do not support the notion of specific changes in graph metrics associated with conscious experience. For the employed somatosensory submodality of fine electrical current stimulation, this speaks for a global broadcasting of sensory content across the brain without substantial reconfiguration of the whole-brain functional network resulting in an integrative conscious experience.
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4
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Frewen P, Schroeter ML, Riva G, Cipresso P, Fairfield B, Padulo C, Kemp AH, Palaniyappan L, Owolabi M, Kusi-Mensah K, Polyakova M, Fehertoi N, D’Andrea W, Lowe L, Northoff G. Neuroimaging the consciousness of self: Review, and conceptual-methodological framework. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 112:164-212. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2019] [Revised: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
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5
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Jones RG, Briggs RG, Conner AK, Bonney PA, Fletcher LR, Ahsan SA, Chakraborty AR, Nix CE, Jacobs CC, Lack AM, Griffin DT, Teo C, Sughrue ME. Measuring graphical strength within the connectome: A neuroanatomic, parcellation-based study. J Neurol Sci 2020; 408:116529. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2019.116529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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6
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Baker CM, Burks JD, Briggs RG, Sheets JR, Conner AK, Glenn CA, Sali G, McCoy TM, Battiste JD, O'Donoghue DL, Sughrue ME. A Connectomic Atlas of the Human Cerebrum-Chapter 3: The Motor, Premotor, and Sensory Cortices. Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown) 2019; 15:S75-S121. [PMID: 30260446 DOI: 10.1093/ons/opy256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
In this supplement, we build on work previously published under the Human Connectome Project. Specifically, we show a comprehensive anatomic atlas of the human cerebrum demonstrating all 180 distinct regions comprising the cerebral cortex. The location, functional connectivity, and structural connectivity of these regions are outlined, and where possible a discussion is included of the functional significance of these areas. In part 3, we specifically address regions relevant to the sensorimotor cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cordell M Baker
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Joshua D Burks
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Robert G Briggs
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - John R Sheets
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Andrew K Conner
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Chad A Glenn
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Goksel Sali
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Tressie M McCoy
- De-partment of Physical Therapy, Uni-versity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - James D Battiste
- Department of Neurology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Daniel L O'Donoghue
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Michael E Sughrue
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.,De-partment of Neurosurgery, Prince of Wales Private Hospital, Sydney, Australia
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7
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Guerra S, Spoto A, Castiello U, Parma V. Sex Differences in Body Ownership in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Psychol 2019; 10:168. [PMID: 30778321 PMCID: PMC6369199 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/17/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
A strong male prevalence has been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) since its definition, but the behavioral manifestations of sex disparity have yet to be clarified. Here, we investigate sex differences in the perception of the Numbness Illusion (NI), a procedure based on a tactile conflict, in adults with ASD and with typical development. We aim to assess if women and men with ASD perceive NI-dependent body ownership differently and whether sex differences emerge in individuals with typical development. To elicit the NI, participants pressed their right-hand palm against the confederate's hand and stroked with the thumb and the index finger of their left hand the joined index fingers in a synchronous or asynchronous way. Results reveal that women with ASD present a reversed and atypical pattern for the NI compared to men with ASD and a group of matched controls. In particular, women with ASD report a stronger illusion than men with ASD, that is more evident in the asynchronous conditions. In the asynchronous condition, women in the ASD group report stronger NI as compared to women and men in the Control group, whereas men with ASD only to men in the Control group. In the typical sample, the NI emerges only in the synchronous condition and no sex difference is observed. We discuss our results in terms of potential advantage of women in sociality and sensory information processing that might lead women with ASD to use different modalities to solve the illusion compared to men with ASD. In sum, these outcomes describe sex differences in individuals with ASD in the domain of illusory perception. This may be used in the future to support the characterization of the female phenotype of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Guerra
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Andrea Spoto
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Umberto Castiello
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Valentina Parma
- Neuroscience Area, International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- William James Center for Research, ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal
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8
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Stone KD, Bullock F, Keizer A, Dijkerman HC. The disappearing limb trick and the role of sensory suggestibility in illusion experience. Neuropsychologia 2018; 117:418-427. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2018] [Revised: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 07/10/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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9
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Ultra-high field MRI: Advancing systems neuroscience towards mesoscopic human brain function. Neuroimage 2018; 168:345-357. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2016] [Revised: 11/06/2016] [Accepted: 01/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
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10
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Serino A, Akselrod M, Salomon R, Martuzzi R, Blefari ML, Canzoneri E, Rognini G, van der Zwaag W, Iakova M, Luthi F, Amoresano A, Kuiken T, Blanke O. Upper limb cortical maps in amputees with targeted muscle and sensory reinnervation. Brain 2017; 140:2993-3011. [PMID: 29088353 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awx242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2016] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroprosthetics research in amputee patients aims at developing new prostheses that move and feel like real limbs. Targeted muscle and sensory reinnervation (TMSR) is such an approach and consists of rerouting motor and sensory nerves from the residual limb towards intact muscles and skin regions. Movement of the myoelectric prosthesis is enabled via decoded electromyography activity from reinnervated muscles and touch sensation on the missing limb is enabled by stimulation of the reinnervated skin areas. Here we ask whether and how motor control and redirected somatosensory stimulation provided via TMSR affected the maps of the upper limb in primary motor (M1) and primary somatosensory (S1) cortex, as well as their functional connections. To this aim, we tested three TMSR patients and investigated the extent, strength, and topographical organization of the missing limb and several control body regions in M1 and S1 at ultra high-field (7 T) functional magnetic resonance imaging. Additionally, we analysed the functional connectivity between M1 and S1 and of both these regions with fronto-parietal regions, known to be important for multisensory upper limb processing. These data were compared with those of control amputee patients (n = 6) and healthy controls (n = 12). We found that M1 maps of the amputated limb in TMSR patients were similar in terms of extent, strength, and topography to healthy controls and different from non-TMSR patients. S1 maps of TMSR patients were also more similar to normal conditions in terms of topographical organization and extent, as compared to non-targeted muscle and sensory reinnervation patients, but weaker in activation strength compared to healthy controls. Functional connectivity in TMSR patients between upper limb maps in M1 and S1 was comparable with healthy controls, while being reduced in non-TMSR patients. However, connectivity was reduced between S1 and fronto-parietal regions, in both the TMSR and non-TMSR patients with respect to healthy controls. This was associated with the absence of a well-established multisensory effect (visual enhancement of touch) in TMSR patients. Collectively, these results show how M1 and S1 process signals related to movement and touch are enabled by targeted muscle and sensory reinnervation. Moreover, they suggest that TMSR may counteract maladaptive cortical plasticity typically found after limb loss, in M1, partially in S1, and in their mutual connectivity. The lack of multisensory interaction in the present data suggests that further engineering advances are necessary (e.g. the integration of somatosensory feedback into current prostheses) to enable prostheses that move and feel as real limbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Serino
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), Switzerland
| | - Michel Akselrod
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), Switzerland
| | - Roy Salomon
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Roberto Martuzzi
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Campus Biotech Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Maria Laura Blefari
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Elisa Canzoneri
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Giulio Rognini
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Wietske van der Zwaag
- Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.,Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Maria Iakova
- Département de l'appareil locomoteur, Clinique Romande de Réadaptation SUVA Care, Sion, Switzerland
| | - François Luthi
- Département de l'appareil locomoteur, Clinique Romande de Réadaptation SUVA Care, Sion, Switzerland
| | | | - Todd Kuiken
- Center for Bionic Medicine, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), chemin des mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
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11
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Self-Grounded Vision: Hand Ownership Modulates Visual Location through Cortical β and γ Oscillations. J Neurosci 2017; 37:11-22. [PMID: 28053026 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0563-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2016] [Revised: 10/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision is known to be shaped by context, defined by environmental and bodily signals. In the Taylor illusion, the size of an afterimage projected on one's hand changes according to proprioceptive signals conveying hand position. Here, we assessed whether the Taylor illusion does not just depend on the physical hand position, but also on bodily self-consciousness as quantified through illusory hand ownership. Relying on the somatic rubber hand illusion, we manipulated hand ownership, such that participants embodied a rubber hand placed next to their own hand. We found that an afterimage projected on the participant's hand drifted depending on illusory ownership between the participants' two hands, showing an implication of self-representation during the Taylor illusion. Oscillatory power analysis of electroencephalographic signals showed that illusory hand ownership was stronger in participants with stronger α suppression over left sensorimotor cortex, whereas the Taylor illusion correlated with higher β/γ power over frontotemporal regions. Higher γ connectivity between left sensorimotor and inferior parietal cortex was also found during illusory hand ownership. These data show that afterimage drifts in the Taylor illusion do not only depend on the physical hand position but also on subjective ownership, which itself is based on the synchrony of somatosensory signals from the two hands. The effect of ownership on afterimage drifts is associated with β/γ power and γ connectivity between frontoparietal regions and the visual cortex. Together, our results suggest that visual percepts are not only influenced by bodily context but are self-grounded, mapped on a self-referential frame. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Vision is influenced by the body: in the Taylor illusion, the size of an afterimage projected on one's hand changes according to tactile and proprioceptive signals conveying hand position. Here, we report a new phenomenon revealing that the perception of afterimages depends not only on bodily signals, but also on the sense of self. Relying on the rubber hand illusion, we manipulated hand ownership, so that participants embodied a rubber hand placed next to their own hand. We found that visual afterimages projected on the participant's hand drifted laterally, only when the rubber hand was embodied. Electroencephalography revealed spectral dissociations between somatic and visual effects, and higher γ connectivity along the dorsal visual pathways when the rubber hand was embodied.
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12
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Hara M, Pozeg P, Rognini G, Higuchi T, Fukuhara K, Yamamoto A, Higuchi T, Blanke O, Salomon R. Voluntary self-touch increases body ownership. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1509. [PMID: 26617534 PMCID: PMC4621401 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2015] [Accepted: 09/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Experimental manipulations of body ownership have indicated that multisensory integration is central to forming bodily self-representation. Voluntary self-touch is a unique multisensory situation involving corresponding motor, tactile and proprioceptive signals. Yet, even though self-touch is frequent in everyday life, its contribution to the formation of body ownership is not well understood. Here we investigated the role of voluntary self-touch in body ownership using a novel adaptation of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), in which a robotic system and virtual reality allowed participants self-touch of real and virtual hands. In the first experiment, active and passive self-touch were applied in the absence of visual feedback. In the second experiment, we tested the role of visual feedback in this bodily illusion. Finally, in the third experiment, we compared active and passive self-touch to the classical RHI in which the touch is administered by the experimenter. We hypothesized that active self-touch would increase ownership over the virtual hand through the addition of motor signals strengthening the bodily illusion. The results indicated that active self-touch elicited stronger illusory ownership compared to passive self-touch and sensory only stimulation, and show an important role for active self-touch in the formation of bodily self.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masayuki Hara
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University Saitama, Japan
| | - Polona Pozeg
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland ; Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Giulio Rognini
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland ; Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland ; School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Takahiro Higuchi
- Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazunobu Fukuhara
- Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University Tokyo, Japan
| | - Akio Yamamoto
- Department of Precision Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan
| | - Toshiro Higuchi
- Department of Precision Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland ; Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland ; Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Roy Salomon
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland ; Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland
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13
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Blanke O, Slater M, Serino A. Behavioral, Neural, and Computational Principles of Bodily Self-Consciousness. Neuron 2015; 88:145-66. [PMID: 26447578 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 386] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 9 Chemin des Mines, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University of Geneva, 24 rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Mel Slater
- ICREA-University of Barcelona, Campus de Mundet, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Department of Computer Science, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Andrea Serino
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 9 Chemin des Mines, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.
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14
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van der Zwaag W, Gruetter R, Martuzzi R. Stroking or Buzzing? A Comparison of Somatosensory Touch Stimuli Using 7 Tesla fMRI. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0134610. [PMID: 26285027 PMCID: PMC4540472 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2015] [Accepted: 07/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Studying body representations in the brain helps us to understand how we humans relate to our own bodies. The in vivo mapping of the somatosensory cortex, where these representations are found, is greatly facilitated by the high spatial resolution and high sensitivity to brain activation available at ultra-high field. In this study, the use of different stimulus types for somatotopic mapping of the digits at ultra-high field, specifically manual stroking and mechanical stimulation, was compared in terms of sensitivity and specificity of the brain responses. Larger positive responses in digit regions of interest were found for manual stroking than for mechanical stimulation, both in terms of average and maximum t-value and in terms of number of voxels with significant responses to the tactile stimulation. Responses to manual stroking were higher throughout the entire post-central sulcus, but the difference was especially large on its posterior wall, i.e. in Brodmann area 2. During mechanical stimulation, cross-digit responses were more negative than during manual stroking, possibly caused by a faster habituation to the stimulus. These differences indicate that manual stroking is a highly suitable stimulus for fast somatotopic mapping procedures, especially if Brodmann area 2 is of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wietske van der Zwaag
- Centre d’Imagerie Biomédicale (CIBM), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, Netherlands
- * E-mail:
| | - Rolf Gruetter
- Centre d’Imagerie Biomédicale (CIBM), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Radiology, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Radiology, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Roberto Martuzzi
- Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Fondation Campus Biotech Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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