scholarly journals The territory of my body: Testosterone prevents limb cooling in the Rubber Hand Illusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donné van der Westhuizen ◽  
Teneille Page ◽  
Mark Solms ◽  
Jack van Honk
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
Steroid Hormone ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Double Blind Placebo ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

ABSTRACTThe Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) is an experimental paradigm for assessing changes in body ownership. Recent findings in the field suggest that social-emotional variables can influence such changes. Since body ownership is a mechanism that enables subjects to organise information about the environment and interact efficiently in it, changes in body ownership should have important implications for social power. In the current study, we investigated whether 0.5mg of testosterone, a steroid hormone strongly implicated in the achievement of power and dominance, affected the RHI. Forty-nine females participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment in which the RHI was induced. Compared to placebo, testosterone had no effects on the usual alteration of subjective ownership over the rubber limb or on subjective sense of proprioceptive drift. However, unlike the placebo group, testosterone-treated participants did not display an objective decline in the temperature of their own (hidden) hand following induction of the illusion. These findings suggest that testosterone strengthens implicit but not explicit bodily self-representations. We propose that effective maintenance of implicit body boundaries can be regarded, conceptually, as a primary defensive state facilitating integrity of the self.

scholarly journals The Territory of my Body: Testosterone Prevents Limb Cooling in the Rubber Hand Illusion

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donné van der Westhuizen ◽  
Teneille Page ◽  
Mark Solms ◽  
Jack van Honk
Keyword(s):  
Steroid Hormone ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Social Emotions ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Body Representations ◽  
Double Blind Placebo ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

Abstract The Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) is an experimental paradigm for assessing changes in body ownership. Recent findings in the field suggest that social emotions can influence such changes and that empathic motivation in particular appears to positively predict the malleability of body representations. Since the steroid hormone, testosterone, is well known to interrupt certain forms of empathic processing, in the current study we investigated whether 0.5 mg of testosterone affected ownership indices of the RHI. Forty-nine females participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment in which the RHI was induced. Compared to placebo, testosterone had no effects on the alteration of subjective ownership over the rubber limb or on subjective sense of proprioceptive drift. However, unlike the placebo group, testosterone-treated participants did not display an objective decline in the temperature of their own (hidden) hand following induction of the illusion. These findings suggest that testosterone strengthens implicit but not explicit bodily self-representations. We propose that effective maintenance of implicit body boundaries can be regarded, conceptually, as a primary defensive state facilitating integrity of the self.

scholarly journals The effect of intranasal oxytocin on the perception of affective touch and multisensory integration in anorexia nervosa: protocol for a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e024913
Author(s):  
Laura Crucianelli ◽  
Lucy Serpell ◽  
Yannis Paloyelis ◽  
Lucia Ricciardi ◽  
Paul Robinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Double Blind Placebo ◽  
Affective Touch ◽  
Body Image Disturbances

IntroductionAnorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterised by restriction of energy intake, fears of gaining weight and related body image disturbances. The oxytocinergic system has been proposed as a pathophysiological candidate for AN. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide involved in bodily processes (eg, breast feeding) and in the onset of social behaviours (eg, bonding). Studies investigating the effect of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) in AN showed that it can improve attentional bias for high-calorie food and fat bodies stimuli, and related stress. However, less is known about the effect of IN-OT on bodily awareness and body image distortions, key features of the disorder linked to its development, prognosis and maintenance. Here, we aim to investigate the effect of IN-OT on the perception of affective, C-tactile-optimal touch, known to be impaired in AN and on multisensory integration processes underlying a body ownership illusion (ie, rubber hand illusion). For exploratory purposes, we will also investigate the effect of IN-OT on another interoceptive modality, namely cardiac awareness and its relationship with affective touch.Design, methods and analysisForty women with AN and forty matched healthy controls will be recruited and tested in two separate sessions; self-administering IN-OT (40 IU) or placebo, intranasally, in a pseudo-randomised manner. The data from this double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study will be analysed using linear mixed models that allow the use of both fixed (treatment levels) and random (subjects) effects in the same analysis. To address our main hypotheses, separate analyses will be run for the affective touch task, where the primary outcome dependent variable will be the pleasantness of the touch, and for the rubber hand illusion, where we will investigate multisensory integration quantified as subjective embodiment towards the rubber hand. In the latter, we will manipulate the synchronicity of touch and the size of the hand.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval has been obtained by National Research Ethics Service NRES Committee London (Queen’s Square Committee, ref number 14/LO/1593). The results will be disseminated through conference presentations and publication in peer-reviewed journals.

scholarly journals Induced illusory body ownership in Borderline Personality Disorder

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli S. Neustadter ◽  
Sarah K. Fineberg ◽  
Jacob Leavitt ◽  
Meagan M. Carr ◽  
Philip R. Corlett
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Affective Symptoms ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

AbstractBackgroundOne aspect of selfhood that may have relevance for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is variation in sense of body ownership. We employed the rubber hand illusion (RHI) to manipulate sense of body ownership in BPD. We extended previous research on illusory body ownership in BPD by testing: 1) two illusion conditions: asynchronous & synchronous stimulation, 2) relationship between Illusion experience and BPD symptoms, and 3) relationship between illusion experience and maladaptive personality traits.MethodsWe measured illusion strength (questionnaire responses), proprioceptive drift (perceived shift in physical hand position), BPD symptoms (DIB-R score), and maladaptive personality traits (PID-5) in 24 BPD and 21 control participants.ResultsFor subjective illusion strength, we found a main effect of group (BPD > HC, F = 11.94 p = 0.001), and condition (synchronous > asynchronous, F(1,43) = 22.80, p < 0.001). There was a group x condition interaction for proprioceptive drift (F(1,43) = 6.48, p = 0.015) such that people with BPD maintained illusion susceptibility in the asynchronous condition. Borderline symptom severity correlated with illusion strength within the BPD group, and this effect was specific to affective symptoms (r = 0.48, p < 0.01). Across all participants, trait psychoticism correlated with illusion strength (r = 0.44, p < 0.01).ConclusionPeople with BPD are more susceptible to illusory body ownership than controls. This is consistent with the clinical literature describing aberrant physical and emotional experience of self in BPD. A predictive-coding framework holds promise to develop testable mechanistic hypotheses for disrupted bodily self in BPD.HighlightsThe rubber hand illusion (RHI) allows measurement of self-disturbance.People with BPD had greater illusion susceptibility and this correlated with affective symptoms.Interoception stabilizes representations of body ownership, and is impaired in BPD.Illusion strength correlates with psychotic traits across levels of psychopathology.Predictive coding frameworks can probe mechanisms of impaired body ownership in psychopathology.

Higher Emotional Intelligence Is Associated With a Stronger Rubber Hand Illusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 615-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Perepelkina ◽  
Maria Boboleva ◽  
Galina Arina ◽  
Valentina Nikolaeva
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Additional Measure ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Subjective Reports ◽  
Processing Factors ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

The aim of the study was to investigate how emotion information processing factors, such as alexithymia and emotional intelligence, modulate body ownership and influence multisensory integration during the ‘rubber hand illusion’ (RHI) task. It was previously shown that alexithymia correlates with RHI, and we suggested that emotional intelligence should also be a top-down factor of body ownership, since it was not shown in previous experiments. We elaborated the study of Grynberg and Pollatos [Front. Hum. Neurosci.9(2015) 357] with an additional measure of emotional intelligence, and propose an explanation for the interrelation of emotion and body ownership processing. Eighty subjects took part in the RHI experiment and completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Only MSCEIT was detected to be a significant predictor of the subjective measure of the RHI. There were no significant correlations between alexithymia scores and the test statements of the RHI or the proprioceptive drift, thus we did not replicate the results of Grynberg and Pollatos. However, alexithymia correlated with the control statements of subjective reports of the illusion, which might be explained as a disruption of the ability to discriminate and describe bodily experience. Therefore, (1) alexithymia seems to be connected with difficulties in conscious or verbal processing of body-related information, and (2) higher emotional intelligence might improve multisensory integration of body-related signals and reflect better predictive models of self-processing.

Somatoform Symptoms’ Influence on the Rubber Hand Illusion: Additional Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S231-S231
Author(s):  
O. Perepelkina ◽  
G. Arina ◽  
M. Boboleva ◽  
V. Nikolaeva
Keyword(s):  
Robust Regression ◽  
Somatoform Disorders ◽  
Medically Unexplained Symptoms ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Clinical Population ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

IntroductionIn the rubber hand illusion (RHI) [1], sense of body ownership is changed by synchronous touches to the hidden participant's hand and a visible rubber hand. It was previously shown [2] that medically unexplained symptoms were associated with the weaker RHI (n = 40).ObjectivesWe used data from our previous research [3] and supplementary questionnaires to test the hypothesis that somatoform symptoms would be associated with the decreased response to RHI.MethodsSubjects (n = 78) voluntarily undergo the following procedures: RHI experiment with measurement of proprioceptive drift and self-reports, Screening for Somatoform Disorders (SOMS-2) and Symptom Check List-90-Revised (the “somatization scale”).ResultsRobust regression was used to evaluate predictors influence: Drift/Self-reports∼SOMS-2 + somatization. SOMS-2 was a significant predictor for proprioceptive drift with positive coefficient (P < 0.05, adjusted), both predictors were insignificant for self-reports.ConclusionsThus, the results of [2] were not reproduced. We demonstrated on the larger sample, that the higher somatoform symptoms (scores of SOMS-2) predicted the stronger RHI. Since our research and [2] had been conducted on non-clinical groups, it is necessary to conduct the critical experiment on the clinical population.The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project No.16-36-00394.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Referral of Touch and the Feeling of Ownership in the Rubber Hand Illusion

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arran T. Reader ◽  
Victoria S. Trifonova ◽  
H. Henrik Ehrsson
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
The Real ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Real Hand

The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is one of the most commonly used paradigms to examine the sense of body ownership. Touches are synchronously applied to the real hand, hidden from view, and a false hand in an anatomically congruent position. During the illusion one may perceive that the feeling of touch arises from the false hand (referral of touch), and that the false hand is one's own. The relationship between referral of touch and body ownership in the illusion is unclear, and some articles average responses to statements addressing these experiences, which may be inappropriate depending on the research question of interest. To address these concerns, we re-analyzed three freely available datasets to better understand the relationship between referral of touch and feeling of ownership in the RHI. We found that most participants who report a feeling of ownership also report referral of touch, and that referral of touch and ownership show a moderately strong positive relationship that was highly replicable. In addition, referral of touch tends to be reported more strongly and more frequently than the feeling of ownership over the hand. The former observations confirm that referral of touch and ownership are related experiences in the RHI. The latter, however, indicate that when pooling the statements one may obtain a higher number of illusion ‘responders’ compared to considering the ownership statements in isolation. These results have implications for the RHI as an experimental paradigm.

scholarly journals The rubber hand illusion does not influence basic movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arran T Reader ◽  
Victoria S Trifonova ◽  
H. Henrik Ehrsson
Keyword(s):  
Body Representation ◽  
Position Sense ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Hand Position ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Sense Of Ownership ◽  
Basic Movement ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

Body ownership refers to the distinct sensation that our observed body belongs to us, which is believed to stem from multisensory integration. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) provides the most well-known evidence for this proposal: synchronous (but not asynchronous) stroking of a fake hand and a participant’s real hidden hand can induce a sense of ownership over the false limb. Whilst the RHI may interfere with object-directed action and alter motor cortical activity, it is not yet clear whether a sense of ownership over an artificial hand has functional consequences for movement production per se. As such, we performed two motion-tracking experiments (n=117) to examine the effects of the RHI on the reaction time, acceleration, and velocity of rapid index finger abduction. We also examined whether subjective components of the illusion and the associated changes in hand position sense (proprioceptive drift) were correlated with changes in the kinematic variables. We observed convincing evidence that the induction of the RHI did not alter any kinematic variables. Moreover, the subjective sensations of rubber hand ownership, referral of touch, and agency did not convincingly correlate with kinematic variables, and nor did proprioceptive drift, suggesting that changes in body representation elicited by the RHI may not influence basic movement. Whilst experiment 1 suggested that individuals reporting a greater sensation of the real hand disappearing performed movements with smaller acceleration and velocity following illusion induction, we did not replicate this effect in a second experiment, suggesting that these effects may be small or not particularly robust.

The Role of the Cerebellum in Dynamic Changes of the Sense of Body Ownership: A Study in Patients with Cerebellar Degeneration

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 712-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirta Fiorio ◽  
Caterina Mariotti ◽  
Marta Panzeri ◽  
Emanuele Antonello ◽  
Joseph Classen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebellar Ataxia ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
The Body ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Subjective Feeling ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

The sense of the body is deeply rooted in humans, and it can be experimentally manipulated by inducing illusions in at least two aspects: a subjective feeling of ownership and a proprioceptive sense of limb position. Previous studies mapped these different aspects onto anatomically distinct neuronal regions, with the ventral premotor cortex processing subjective experience of ownership and the inferior parietal lobule processing proprioceptive calibration. Lines of evidence suggest an involvement also of the cerebellum, but its precise role is not clear yet. To investigate the contribution of the cerebellum in the sense of body ownership, we applied the rubber-hand illusion paradigm in 28 patients affected by neurodegenerative cerebellar ataxia, selectively involving the cerebellum, and in 26 age-matched control participants. The rubber hand illusion is established by synchronous stroking of the participants' real unseen hand and a visible fake hand. Short asynchronous stroking does not bring about the illusion. We tested the subjective experience of the illusion, evaluated through a questionnaire and the proprioceptive drift of the real unseen hand toward the viewed rubber hand. In patients with cerebellar ataxia, we observed reduced sense of the subjective illusory experience specifically after synchronous stroking. In contrast, the proprioceptive drift was enhanced after synchronous and after asynchronous stimulation. These findings support the contention that the mechanisms underlying the presence of the illusion and the proprioceptive drift may be differently affected in different conditions. Impairment of the subjective sense of the illusion in cerebellar patients might hint at an involvement of cerebellar-premotor networks, whereas the proprioceptive drift typically associated with synchronous stroking appears to rely on other circuits, likely involving the cerebellum and the parietal regions.

scholarly journals Age-related changes in the sense of body ownership: New insights from the rubber hand illusion

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. e0207528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Marotta ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini ◽  
Michele Tinazzi ◽  
Mirta Fiorio
Keyword(s):  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Changes

scholarly journals Subjective embodiment during the rubber hand illusion predicts severity of premonitory sensations and tics in Tourette Syndrome

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Rae ◽  
Dennis Larsson ◽  
Jessica Eccles ◽  
Jamie Ward ◽  
HUgo Critchley
Keyword(s):  
Tourette Syndrome ◽  
Prediction Error ◽  
Tactile Stimulation ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Artificial Hand ◽  
Error Index ◽  
Proprioceptive Drift

The rubber hand illusion describes a sense of embodiment over a fake hand induced by synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation. In Tourette Syndrome, the expression of involuntary tics and preceding premonitory sensations is associated with the perturbation of subjective feelings of self-control and agency. We compared responses to induction of the Rubber Hand Illusion in 23 adults with TS and 22 matched controls. Both TS and control participants reported equivalent subjective embodiment of the artificial hand: feelings of ownership, location, and agency were greater during synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, compared to asynchronous stimulation. However, individuals with TS did not manifest greater proprioceptive drift during synchronous relative to asynchronous stimulation, an objective marker of embodiment observed in controls. We computed an ‘embodiment prediction error’ index from the difference between subjective embodiment and objective proprioceptive drift. This embodiment prediction error correlated with severity of premonitory sensations according to the Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS). Feelings of ownership over the artificial hand also correlated with premonitory sensation severity, and feelings of agency with tic severity (YGTSS). Together our findings suggest that the subjective strength of bodily ownership, as measured by the rubber hand illusion, contributes to susceptibility to the premonitory sensations that are a precipitating factor in tics. These results also suggest that somatosensory neural pathways underpinning visuo-tactile integration are likely altered in TS and may interact with other sensory and motor systems to engender premonitory sensations and tics.

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