Illusory own body perceptions mapped in the cingulate cortex—An intracranial stimulation study

Abstract

Body awareness is the result of sensory integration in the posterior parietal cortex; however, other brain structures are part of this process. Our goal is to determine how the cingulate cortex is involved in the representation of our body. We retrospectively selected patients with drug‐resistant epilepsy, explored by stereo‐electroencephalography, that had the cingulate cortex sampled outside the epileptogenic zone. The clinical effects of high‐frequency electrical stimulation were reviewed and only those sites that elicited changes related to body perception were included. Connectivity of the cingulate cortex and other cortical structures was assessed using the h2 coefficient, following a nonlinear regression analysis of the broadband EEG signal. Poststimulation changes in connectivity were compared between two sets of stimulations eliciting or not eliciting symptoms related to body awareness (interest and control groups). We included 17 stimulations from 12 patients that reported different types of body perception changes such as sensation of being pushed toward right/left/up, one limb becoming heavier/lighter, illusory sensation of movement, sensation of pressure, sensation of floating or detachment of one hemi‐body. High‐frequency stimulation in the cingulate cortex (1 anterior, 15 middle, 1 posterior part) elicits body perception changes, associated with a decreased connectivity of the dominant posterior insula and increased coupling between other structures, located particularly in the nondominant hemisphere.

Beyond the Gender Binarism: The Neural Correlates of Trans Men Investigated in a Functional Connectivity–Resting State fMRI Study

“…This result is also in contrast with Simon et al (2013), who found that the precentral gyrus of both trans women and trans men do not differ from controls sharing the same gender identity. Moreover, we found weaker FC in trans men versus cis men in the cingulate gyrus, a brain area involved in body perception (Popa et al, 2019), and in structures engaged in the Default Mode Network (DMN) such as the paracingulate gyrus and the subcallosal cortex, which is engaged in cognitive and emotional processes (Mayberg et al, 2008). These areas are in uenced by hormone therapy and especially within the subcallosal cortex trans women showed a deactivation during estradiol treatment (Schenider et al, 2019).…”

Neurobiological and genetic correlates of the dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder.

“…It also appears to be specifically related to both interoceptive and exteroceptive perception, including sense of self-location and direction (Guterstam et al, 2015), and altered states of bodily awareness, such as body illusions (Park et al, 2016). A case study found that a tumor in the PCC was associated with symptoms consistent with depersonalization (Hiromitsu et al, 2020) and similarly, stimulation of the region has been associated with the perception of limb movement when at rest (Popa et al, 2019). The isthmus is adjacent and posterior to the PCC; it connects the PCC to the parahippocampal gyrus.…”

Age-dependent vestibular cingulate–cerebral network underlying gravitational perception: a cross-sectional multimodal study

“…Given the recent interest in neuromodulation, our findings apply to the clinic. Several neurological deficits have been linked to vestibular malfunctioning [14,[23][24][25]. Because the Cingulate Gyrus is involved in vestibular processing, this region provides an inviting potential target for treating several disorders.…”