Upper limb amputees can be induced to experience a rubber hand as their own.
We describe how upper limb amputees can be made to experience a rubber hand as part of their own body. This was accomplished by applying synchronous touches to the stump, which was out of view, and to the index finger of a rubber hand, placed in full view (26 cm medial to the stump). This elicited an illusion of sensing touch on the artificial hand, rather than on the stump and a feeling of ownership of the rubber hand developed. This effect was supported by quantitative subjective reports in the form of questionnaires, behavioural data in the form of misreaching in a pointing task when asked to localize the position of the touch, and physiological evidence obtained by skin conductance responses when threatening the hand prosthesis. Our findings outline a simple method for transferring tactile sensations from the stump to a prosthetic limb by tricking the brain, thereby making an important contribution to the field of neuroprosthetics where a major goal is to develop artificial limbs that feel like a real parts of the body.
Ehrsson
H Henrik
HH
Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Henrik.Ehrsson@ki.se
Rosén
Birgitta
B
Stockselius
Anita
A
Ragnö
Christina
C
Köhler
Peter
P
Lundborg
Göran
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000671:Amputation, Surgical / Q000534:rehabilitation; D000672:Amputation Stumps / Q000503:physiopathology; D000673:Amputation, Traumatic / Q000534:rehabilitation; D000674:Amputees / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010591:Phantom Limb; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012408:Rubber; D014110:Touch; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000601:surgery
D012408:Rubber