Dataset Information

The Marble-Hand Illusion.

ABSTRACT: Our body is made of flesh and bones. We know it, and in our daily lives all the senses constantly provide converging information about this simple, factual truth. But is this always the case? Here we report a surprising bodily illusion demonstrating that humans rapidly update their assumptions about the material qualities of their body, based on their recent multisensory perceptual experience. To induce a misperception of the material properties of the hand, we repeatedly gently hit participants' hand with a small hammer, while progressively replacing the natural sound of the hammer against the skin with the sound of a hammer hitting a piece of marble. After five minutes, the hand started feeling stiffer, heavier, harder, less sensitive, unnatural, and showed enhanced Galvanic skin response (GSR) to threatening stimuli. Notably, such a change in skin conductivity positively correlated with changes in perceived hand stiffness. Conversely, when hammer hits and impact sounds were temporally uncorrelated, participants did not spontaneously report any changes in the perceived properties of the hand, nor did they show any modulation in GSR. In two further experiments, we ruled out that mere audio-tactile synchrony is the causal factor triggering the illusion, further demonstrating the key role of material information conveyed by impact sounds in modulating the perceived material properties of the hand. This novel bodily illusion, the 'Marble-Hand Illusion', demonstrates that the perceived material of our body, surely the most stable attribute of our bodily self, can be quickly updated through multisensory integration.

SUBMITTER: Senna I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3951417 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The Marble-Hand Illusion.

Senna Irene I Maravita Angelo A Bolognini Nadia N Parise Cesare V CV

PloS one 20140312 3

Our body is made of flesh and bones. We know it, and in our daily lives all the senses constantly provide converging information about this simple, factual truth. But is this always the case? Here we report a surprising bodily illusion demonstrating that humans rapidly update their assumptions about the material qualities of their body, based on their recent multisensory perceptual experience. To induce a misperception of the material properties of the hand, we repeatedly gently hit participants ...[more]

PMID: 24621793

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Project description:Tactile feedback plays a vital role in inducing ownership and improving motor control of prosthetic hands. However, commercially available prosthetic hands typically do not provide tactile feedback and because of that the prosthetic user must rely on visual input to adjust the grip. The classical rubber hand illusion (RHI) where a brush is stroking the rubber hand, and the user's hidden hand synchronously can induce ownership of a rubber hand. In the classic RHI the stimulation is modality-matched, meaning that the stimulus on the real hand matches the stimulus on the rubber hand. The RHI has also been used in previous studies with a prosthetic hand as the "rubber hand," suggesting that a hand prosthesis can be incorporated within the amputee's body scheme. Interestingly, previous studies have shown that stimulation with a mismatched modality, where the rubber hand was brushed, and vibrations were felt on the hidden hand also induced the RHI. The aim of this study was to compare how well mechanotactile, vibrotactile, and electrotactile feedback induced the RHI in able-bodied participants and forearm amputees. 27 participants with intact hands and three transradial amputees took part in a modified RHI experiment. The rubber hand was stroked with a brush, and the participant's hidden hand/residual limb received stimulation with either brush stroking, electricity, pressure, or vibration. The three latter stimulations were modality mismatched with regard to the brushstroke. Participants were tested for ten different combinations (stimulation blocks) where the stimulations were applied on the volar (glabrous skin), and dorsal (hairy skin) sides of the hand. Outcome was assessed using two standard tests (questionnaire and proprioceptive drift). All types of stimulation induced RHI but electrical and vibration stimulation induced a stronger RHI than pressure. After completing more stimulation blocks, the proprioceptive drift test showed that the difference between pre- and post-test was reduced. This indicates that the illusion was drifting toward the rubber hand further into the session.

Dataset Information

The Marble-Hand Illusion.

Publications

The Marble-Hand Illusion.

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