Health & Medicine
New Insight for Body Representation Brain Disorders: Is That Finger Yours?
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Sep 23, 2013 08:38 AM EDT
Does that finger belong to your body? The question may be more difficult than you realize. Scientists have discovered that people can be easily tricked into believing an artificial finger is their own, revealing that the brain does not require multiple signals to build a picture body ownership.
The human brain uses sensory signals to maintain and update internal representation of the body, to plan and generate movements and to interact with the world. Sometimes, though, things can happen that can disrupt body representation in the brain. For example, changes in the central or peripheral nervous system can cause this.
In order to examine body ownership, researchers employed the help of participants who held an artificial finger with their left hand that was located about 12 cm above their right index finger. The scientists then numbed the skin with anesthesia and eliminated the participants' vision during the course of the experiment. The researchers found that when the artificial finger and the right index finger were moved at the same time, subjects reported they were holding their own index finger.
"It may seem silly to ask yourself whether your index finger is part of your body. However, our current findings demonstrate that this question has led to important insights into key brain functions," said Simon Gandevia, one of the researchers, in a news release. "These findings could lead to new clinical interventions where the addition or the removal of specific sensory stimuli is used to change someone's body image."
In fact, the findings reveal that it's possible for the brain to incorrectly incorporate an artificial body part into its internal body representation. The research gives new understanding as to how the brain decides what is part of our own body and where it is located. In fact, contrary to previous theories which used multiple sensory inputs including touch and vision, these findings demonstrate that messages coming from muscle receptors are enough to change the internal body representation.
The research is especially important for those that have to deal with body representation that's been disrupted, such as those who have suffered stroke or may be dealing with schizophrenia or phantom limb syndrome following amputation. This research could help patients in the future.
The findings are published in the Journal of Physiology.
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First Posted: Sep 23, 2013 08:38 AM EDT
Does that finger belong to your body? The question may be more difficult than you realize. Scientists have discovered that people can be easily tricked into believing an artificial finger is their own, revealing that the brain does not require multiple signals to build a picture body ownership.
The human brain uses sensory signals to maintain and update internal representation of the body, to plan and generate movements and to interact with the world. Sometimes, though, things can happen that can disrupt body representation in the brain. For example, changes in the central or peripheral nervous system can cause this.
In order to examine body ownership, researchers employed the help of participants who held an artificial finger with their left hand that was located about 12 cm above their right index finger. The scientists then numbed the skin with anesthesia and eliminated the participants' vision during the course of the experiment. The researchers found that when the artificial finger and the right index finger were moved at the same time, subjects reported they were holding their own index finger.
"It may seem silly to ask yourself whether your index finger is part of your body. However, our current findings demonstrate that this question has led to important insights into key brain functions," said Simon Gandevia, one of the researchers, in a news release. "These findings could lead to new clinical interventions where the addition or the removal of specific sensory stimuli is used to change someone's body image."
In fact, the findings reveal that it's possible for the brain to incorrectly incorporate an artificial body part into its internal body representation. The research gives new understanding as to how the brain decides what is part of our own body and where it is located. In fact, contrary to previous theories which used multiple sensory inputs including touch and vision, these findings demonstrate that messages coming from muscle receptors are enough to change the internal body representation.
The research is especially important for those that have to deal with body representation that's been disrupted, such as those who have suffered stroke or may be dealing with schizophrenia or phantom limb syndrome following amputation. This research could help patients in the future.
The findings are published in the Journal of Physiology.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone