Brain activity and the perception of self-agency while viewing a video of tool manipulation

Abstract

Self-agency is the recognition of one's own movement and plays a vital role in purposeful, voluntary movement. Self-agency can occur in individuals who view their own finger movements as they are projected onto a screen and aligned with their actual hand position. Self-agency can also occur when tools are assimilated into the body schema. Here, we examined whether participants perceived self-agency when they viewed a video of a tool that they manipulated and whether the perception of self-agency correlated with simultaneous changes in oxyhemoglobin in the parietal or prefrontal cortical areas. All participants reported the perception of self-agency, which was correlated with oxyhemoglobin increases in the right inferior prefrontal area. We conclude that self-agency also relates to hand-held tools displayed by video.

Toward a Wireless Open Source Instrument: Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy in Mobile Neuroergonomics and BCI Applications

“…While first generation instruments were rather bulky and expensive, using Laser Diodes with Photo Multiplier Tubes (PMTs) (Cope and Delpy, 1988 ; Cope, 1991 ; Rolfe, 2000 ; Schmidt et al, 2000 ) and later Avalanche Photo Diodes (APDs) (Boas et al, 2001 ; Coyle et al, 2004 , 2007 ), today's devices often take advantage of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and Photo Diodes (PDs) (Vaithianathan et al, 2004 ; Bunce et al, 2006 ; Chenier and Sawan, 2007 ; Ayaz et al, 2013 ; Safaie et al, 2013 ; Piper et al, 2014 ) which allow safe, more compact and mobile applications. After the initial development of laboratory and bedside-monitoring devices for monitoring of local oxygenation levels e.g., in newborn infants (Cope and Delpy, 1988 ; Cope, 1991 ), in the 2000s many research groups focused on the design of imaging instruments for brain activity mapping from topographic information [functional Near-Infrared Imaging (fNIRI)] (Schmidt et al, 2000 ; Boas et al, 2001 ; Vaithianathan et al, 2004 ).…”

“…Also, in many cases, signal extraction technologies like lock-in amplification seem to be sacrificed for the sake of miniaturization or complexity. Probe and attachment designs proposed in the last years, such as the use of flexible PCBs (Vaithianathan et al, 2004 ; Bozkurt et al, 2005 ; Bunce et al, 2006 ; Son and Yazici, 2006 ; Rajkumar et al, 2012 ), eeg-cap like optodes (Kiguchi et al, 2012 ; Piper et al, 2014 ) and mechanical mounting structures (Coyle et al, 2007 ) are usually limited to static applications and/or in case of flexible PCB to a fixation on the forehead due to obstruction by hair. An often reported issue in the field of mobile applications, that seems not to be resolved satisfactorily so far, is the optode attachment to the head for both stable optical contact, sufficient light levels and comfortable wearing.…”

Treatment of Medial Medullary Infarction Using a Novel iNems Training: A Case Report and Literature Review

“…21 In this study, the patient was able to carry out the training without consistency issues, while exhibiting improved MNS activity, including the supplementary motor cortex, which is responsible for the occurrence of the sense of agency and ownership. 22 We considered that in training, the actively created intent to move and the visual information fed back were compared and resulted in learning. Additionally, considering that the PCS score improved and as it is known that pain catastrophizing during the acute phase reduces the frequency of afflicted-limb use, 23 there is a strong relationship between the PCS and the assessment of the sense of agency and ownership.…”

Effects and Adaptation of Visual-Motor Illusion Using Different Visual Stimuli on Improving Ankle Joint Paralysis of Stroke Survivors—A Randomized Crossover Controlled Trial

“…VMI induces the illusion of movement in the subject’s limbs, even though they are not moving, by overlaying an image showing the movements of the limbs on the actual subject’s limbs for observation [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. VMI has been reported to increase corticospinal tract excitability, elicit motor imagery, and activate brain regions associated with a sense of embodiment (sense of agency (SoA) and sense of ownership (SoO)) [ 8 , 17 , 21 , 22 ]. Furthermore, SoA elicited by VMI is associated with prefrontal cortex activity [ 22 ].…”

“…VMI has been reported to increase corticospinal tract excitability, elicit motor imagery, and activate brain regions associated with a sense of embodiment (sense of agency (SoA) and sense of ownership (SoO)) [ 8 , 17 , 21 , 22 ]. Furthermore, SoA elicited by VMI is associated with prefrontal cortex activity [ 22 ].…”