Plasticity and Awareness of Bodily Distortion

Pazzaglia, Mariella; Zantedeschi, Marta

doi:10.1155/2016/9834340

Cited by 35 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(79 reference statements)

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“…Due to its plasticity, the brain adapts to altered afferent signals in multiple ways, including modification of cortical somatotopy and changed bodily self-perception [1,2]. One method of testing this feeling of embodiment and the dissociation of oneself to the environment is the rubber hand illusion (RHI) [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Rubber Hand Illusion and Excitatory Theta Burst Stimulation on Tactile Sensation: A Pilot Study

et al. 2020

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Synchronous visuotactile stimulation on the own hidden hand and a visible fake limb can alter bodily self-perception and influence spontaneous neuroplasticity. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm experimentally produces an illusion of rubber hand ownership and arm shift by simultaneously stroking a rubber hand in view and a participant’s visually occluded hand. The aim of this cross-over, placebo-controlled, single-blind study was to assess whether RHI, in combination with high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) given as intermittent (excitatory) theta burst stimulation (iTBS) applied over the hand area of the primary sensory region (S1) can enhance tactile sensation in a group of 21 healthy subjects and one patient with cervical spinal cord injury. Four sessions covered all combinations of real and sham stimulations of the RHI and the TBS: real TBS and real RHI, real TBS and sham RHI, sham TBS and real RHI, and both conditions sham. The condition sham TBS and real RHI shows the greatest effect on the proprioceptive drift (median 2.3 cm, IQR 2) and on the score of RHI questionnaires (median 3, IQR 2) in the control group as well as in the real-real condition (median 2, IQR 2). The sham TBS and real RHI condition also shows the best results in the electrical perception test of the patient (median 1.9 mA). Conversely, the upregulation of the cortical excitability of S1 via TBS seems to impair the effect of the RHI. This might be due to a strengthening of the top-down connection between the central nervous system and the periphery, diminishing the RHI. This finding helps in understanding the mechanisms of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in healthy subjects and patients with spinal cord injury. The RHI paradigm could represent an interesting therapeutic approach in improving tactile sensation and rTMS techniques could modulate these effects. Yet, further studies are needed, to examine the direction of the interaction effect of TMS and RH.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Rubber Hand Illusion and Excitatory Theta Burst Stimulation on Tactile Sensation: A Pilot Study

et al. 2020

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“…Body representation involves multiple neural sources of information. The primary somatosensory and motor cortices of the adult brain contain detailed maps of physical body topography that are thought to be adapted from interactions with the physical world [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury

Leemhuis

Gennaro

Pazzaglia

2019

JCM

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Neuroplastic changes in somatotopic organization within the motor and somatosensory systems have long been observed. The interruption of afferent and efferent brain–body pathways promotes extensive cortical reorganization. Changes are majorly related to the typical homuncular organization of sensorimotor areas and specific “somatotopic interferences”. Recent findings revealed a relevant peripheral contribution to the plasticity of body representation in addition to the role of sensorimotor cortices. Here, we review the ways in which structures and brain mechanisms react to missing or critically altered sensory and motor peripheral signals. We suggest that these plastic events are: (i) variably affected across multiple timescales, (ii) age-dependent, (iii) strongly related to altered perceptual sensations during and after remapping of the deafferented peripheral area, and (iv) may contribute to the appearance of secondary pathological conditions, such as allodynia, hyperalgesia, and neuropathic pain. Understanding the considerable complexity of plastic reorganization processes will be a fundamental step in the formulation of theoretical and clinical models useful for maximizing rehabilitation programs and resulting recovery.

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“…Our experience of the body is not direct (Figure 1), but it is mediated by perceptual information, recalibrated through stored information (body representations) and influenced by internal information—proprioception, interoception, and vestibular input (Blanke et al, 2015; Pazzaglia and Zantedeschi, 2016). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa: Serotonin Dysfunctions Link Self-Starvation with Body Image Disturbances through an Impaired Body Memory

Riva

2016

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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The etiology of anorexia nervosa (AN) is still unclear, despite that it is a critical and potentially mortal illness. A recent neurobiological model considers AN as the outcome of dysfunctions in the neuronal processes related to appetite and emotionality (Kaye et al., 2009, 2013). However, this model still is not able to answer a critical question: What is behind body image disturbances (BIDs) in AN? The article starts its analysis from reviewing some of the studies exploring the effects of the serotonin systems in memory (episodic, working, and spatial) and its dysfunctions. The review suggests that serotonin disturbances may: (a) facilitate the encoding of third person (allocentric) episodic memories; (b) facilitate the consolidation of emotional episodic memories (e.g., teasing), if preceded by repeated stress; (c) reduce voluntary inhibition of mnestic contents; (d) impair allocentric spatial memory. If we discuss these results within the interpretative frame suggested by the “Allocentric Lock Hypothesis” (Riva, 2012, 2014), we can hypothesize that altered serotoninergic activity in AN patients: (i) improves their ability to store and consolidate negative autobiographical memories, including those of their body, in allocentric perspective; (ii) impairs their ability to trigger voluntary inhibition of the previously stored negative memory of the body; (iii) impairs their capacity to retrieve/update allocentric information. Taken together, these points suggest a possible link between serotonin dysfunctions, memory impairments and BIDs: the impossibility of updating a disturbed body memory using real time experiential data—I'm locked to a wrong body stored in long term memory—pushes AN patients to control body weight and shape even when underweight.

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Plasticity and Awareness of Bodily Distortion

Cited by 35 publications

References 67 publications

Effects of Rubber Hand Illusion and Excitatory Theta Burst Stimulation on Tactile Sensation: A Pilot Study

Effects of Rubber Hand Illusion and Excitatory Theta Burst Stimulation on Tactile Sensation: A Pilot Study

Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury

Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa: Serotonin Dysfunctions Link Self-Starvation with Body Image Disturbances through an Impaired Body Memory

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