Neural mechanisms underlying the Rubber Hand Illusion: A systematic review of related neurophysiological studies

Golaszewski, Stefan; Frey, Vanessa; Thomschewski, Aljoscha; Sebastianelli, Luca; Versace, Viviana; Saltuari, Leopold; Trinka, Eugen; Nardone, Raffaele

doi:10.1002/brb3.2124

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Noninvasive brain stimulation studies showed that the activity in motor (della Gatta et al, 2016;Fossataro et al, 2018) and somatosensory (Zeller et al, 2015;Hornburger et al, 2019;Isayama et al, 2019) brain areas was attenuated during the experience of illusionary ownership over a rubber hand (i.e., during the synchronous but not asynchronous multisensory stimulation). These findings have previously been discussed as an indication for the disembodiment of the real hand necessary to embody a rubber hand (for a review see Golaszewski et al, 2021). The use of immersive VR with highly congruent visuo-motor and proprioceptive feedback -compared with the rubber hand illusion, no proprioceptive mismatch is present-may allow to induce highly realistic illusions, without the necessity for the user/brain to disembody the own limbs.…”

Section: The Strength Of Subjectively Experienced "Stone Arm Illusion...mentioning

confidence: 76%

“…However, the ability of the brain to adapt motor commands based on a perceived modified reality has not yet been fully explored. Evidence suggests that the embodiment over an artificial limb may go in line with the disembodiment of the own limb (for a review see Golaszewski et al, 2021 ). Previous neurophysiological studies using non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (transcranial magnetic and direct current stimulation) and electroencephalography (EEG) have evidenced attenuated activity in motor ( della Gatta et al, 2016 ; Fossataro et al, 2018 ) and somatosensory ( Tajadura-Jiménez et al, 2012 ; Zeller et al, 2015 ; Hornburger et al, 2019 ; Isayama et al, 2019 ; Sakamoto and Ifuku, 2021 ) brain areas, along with enhanced error tolerance ( Raz et al, 2020 ) during the experience of illusionary body ownership.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Tricking the Brain” Using Immersive Virtual Reality: Modifying the Self-Perception Over Embodied Avatar Influences Motor Cortical Excitability and Action Initiation

Buetler

Penalver-Andres

Özen

et al. 2022

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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To offer engaging neurorehabilitation training to neurologic patients, motor tasks are often visualized in virtual reality (VR). Recently introduced head-mounted displays (HMDs) allow to realistically mimic the body of the user from a first-person perspective (i.e., avatar) in a highly immersive VR environment. In this immersive environment, users may embody avatars with different body characteristics. Importantly, body characteristics impact how people perform actions. Therefore, alternating body perceptions using immersive VR may be a powerful tool to promote motor activity in neurologic patients. However, the ability of the brain to adapt motor commands based on a perceived modified reality has not yet been fully explored. To fill this gap, we “tricked the brain” using immersive VR and investigated if multisensory feedback modulating the physical properties of an embodied avatar influences motor brain networks and control. Ten healthy participants were immersed in a virtual environment using an HMD, where they saw an avatar from first-person perspective. We slowly transformed the surface of the avatar (i.e., the “skin material”) from human to stone. We enforced this visual change by repetitively touching the real arm of the participant and the arm of the avatar with a (virtual) hammer, while progressively replacing the sound of the hammer against skin with stone hitting sound via loudspeaker. We applied single-pulse transcranial magnetic simulation (TMS) to evaluate changes in motor cortical excitability associated with the illusion. Further, to investigate if the “stone illusion” affected motor control, participants performed a reaching task with the human and stone avatar. Questionnaires assessed the subjectively reported strength of embodiment and illusion. Our results show that participants experienced the “stone arm illusion.” Particularly, they rated their arm as heavier, colder, stiffer, and more insensitive when immersed with the stone than human avatar, without the illusion affecting their experienced feeling of body ownership. Further, the reported illusion strength was associated with enhanced motor cortical excitability and faster movement initiations, indicating that participants may have physically mirrored and compensated for the embodied body characteristics of the stone avatar. Together, immersive VR has the potential to influence motor brain networks by subtly modifying the perception of reality, opening new perspectives for the motor recovery of patients.

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Section: The Strength Of Subjectively Experienced "Stone Arm Illusion...mentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Tricking the Brain” Using Immersive Virtual Reality: Modifying the Self-Perception Over Embodied Avatar Influences Motor Cortical Excitability and Action Initiation

Buetler

Penalver-Andres

Özen

et al. 2022

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can also be used to study the link between neural activity in the sensorimotor cortical network and the experience of body ownership. TMS can be applied to the primary motor cortex during an embodiment illusion to create motor evoked potentials on demand (della Gatta et al, 2016 ; Karabanov et al, 2017 ; Isayama et al, 2019 ; Golaszewski et al, 2021 ). Then, electromyography (EMG) measured on the target limb can quantify the motor excitability of the corticospinal circuits during the illusion.…”

Section: Outcome Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring embodiment: A review of methods for prosthetic devices

2022

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The development of neural interfaces to provide improved control and somatosensory feedback from prosthetic limbs has initiated a new ability to probe the various dimensions of embodiment. Scientists in the field of neuroprosthetics require dependable measures of ownership, body representation, and agency to quantify the sense of embodiment felt by patients for their prosthetic limbs. These measures are critical to perform generalizable experiments and compare the utility of the new technologies being developed. Here, we review outcome measures used in the literature to evaluate the senses of ownership, body-representation, and agency. We categorize these existing measures based on the fundamental psychometric property measured and whether it is a behavioral or physiological measure. We present arguments for the efficacy and pitfalls of each measure to guide better experimental designs and future outcome measure development. The purpose of this review is to aid prosthesis researchers and technology developers in understanding the concept of embodiment and selecting metrics to assess embodiment in their research. Advances in the ability to measure the embodiment of prosthetic devices have far-reaching implications in the improvement of prosthetic limbs as well as promoting a broader understanding of ourselves as embodied agents.

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“…However, we cannot ignore the influence of sensory representations on motor function and the sensorimotor network when considering motor control and motor rehabilitation. Phenomena such as the rubber hand illusion ( 26 , 27 ) and the mirror synaesthesia ( 28 , 29 ), and phantom limb sensations ( 30 ) illustrate that sensory representations can also be embodied. Studies of phantom limb phenomena show that individuals continue to have awareness and experience sensations of bodily unity and continuity despite actual sensory and motor loss ( 31 , 32 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Sensory Observation and Somatosensory Stimulation in Mirror Neurons and the Sensorimotor Network: A Task-Based fMRI Study

Zhou

Chen

Li³

et al. 2022

Front. Neurol.

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ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate brain plasticity by somatosensory stimulation (SS) and sensory observation (SO) based on mirror neuron and embodied cognition theory. Action observation therapy has been widely adopted for motor function improvement in post-stroke patients. However, it is uncertain whether the SO approach can also contribute to the recovery of sensorimotor function after stroke. In this study, we explored the therapeutic potential of SO for sensorimotor dysfunction and provided new evidence for neurorehabilitation.MethodsTwenty-six healthy right-handed adults (12 men and 14 women), aged 18–27 (mean, 22.12; SD, 2.12) years were included. All subjects were evaluated with task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to discover the characteristics and differences in brain activation between SO and SS. We adopted a block design with two conditions during fMRI scanning: observing a sensory video of brushing (task condition A, defined as SO) and brushing subjects' right forearms while they watched a nonsense string (task condition B, defined as SS). One-sample t-tests were performed to identify brain regions and voxels activated for each task condition. A paired-sample t-test and conjunction analysis were performed to explore the differences and similarities between SO and SS.ResultsThe task-based fMRI showed that the bilateral postcentral gyrus, left precentral gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, and left supplementary motor area were significantly activated during SO or SS. In addition to these brain regions, SO could also activate areas containing mirror neurons, like the left inferior parietal gyrus.ConclusionSO could activate mirror neurons and sensorimotor network-related brain regions in healthy subjects like SS. Therefore, SO may be a promising novel therapeutic approach for sensorimotor dysfunction recovery in post-stroke patients.

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Neural mechanisms underlying the Rubber Hand Illusion: A systematic review of related neurophysiological studies

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 19 publications

References 55 publications

“Tricking the Brain” Using Immersive Virtual Reality: Modifying the Self-Perception Over Embodied Avatar Influences Motor Cortical Excitability and Action Initiation

“Tricking the Brain” Using Immersive Virtual Reality: Modifying the Self-Perception Over Embodied Avatar Influences Motor Cortical Excitability and Action Initiation

Measuring embodiment: A review of methods for prosthetic devices

Comparison of Sensory Observation and Somatosensory Stimulation in Mirror Neurons and the Sensorimotor Network: A Task-Based fMRI Study

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