The sense of agency refers to the feeling of control over one’s own actions, and through them, the external events. This study examined the effect of modified visual feedback on the sense of agency over one’s body movements using virtual reality in healthy individuals whose motor control was disturbed. Participants moved a virtual object using their right hand to trace a trajectory (Experiment 1) or a leading target (Experiment 2). Their motor control was disturbed by a delay in visual feedback (Experiment 1) or a 1-kg weight attached to their wrist (Experiment 2). In the offset conditions, the virtual object was presented at the median point between the desired position and the participants’ actual hand position. In both experiments, participants reported improved sense of agency in the offset condition compared to the aligned condition where the visual feedback reflected their actual body movements, despite their motion being less precise in the offset condition. The results show that sense of agency can be enhanced by modifying feedback to motor tasks according to the goal of the task, even when visual feedback is discrepant from the actual body movements. The present study sheds light on the possibility of artificially enhancing body agency to improve voluntary motor control.

No abstract

No abstract

The consumption of essential nutrition is fundamental to maintain the health of older adults. Conventional studies report that community dwelling older adults who live alone have the tendency to skip meals and result in low nutrition intake. However, the details regarding the dietary behavior and its association with the status of nutrition intake remain unclear. In this study, a cross-sectional analysis was conducted to explore the association between the time of meals and nutrition balance. In October 2019, questionnaire surveys were distributed to 184 participants of a lunch event dedicated to older adults living alone (Kashiwa, Japan). The time of meals, number of meals per day, consumption status of 10 food groups, and self-rated health were used for the analysis (N=165). As a result, older adults who usually ate their first meal between 5 to 8 A.M. ate three meals/day, while those who ate their first meal after 8 A.M. ate two meals/day. Those who ate their meal between 5 to 8 A.M., frequently consumed meat, fish and seafood, milk, and green and yellow vegetables compared to those who ate after 8 A.M. Self-rated health score was also high. The consumption of early-morning meals was associated with good dietary behaviors. The importance of eating breakfast has been emphasized, however, the time of the breakfast could vary among individuals. This study proposed the importance of considering the time of the meal. Development of intervention programs which encourage early-morning meal consumption might be helpful to form healthy dietary behaviors of older adults.