title: A new method for assessing self-touch enhancement of the foot in stroke patients with mobility problems.
abstract: Patient NG is the first reported case of lower-limb 'self-touch enhancement' following stroke. Mobility problems prevented NG from reaching to touch her foot, thus we used a self-touch rubber-hand paradigm to mimic the conditions of self-administered touch. With vision precluded, NG administered stimulation to a prosthetic limb while the Examiner administered synchronous stimulation to NG's affected left foot. NG detected all stimulation administered with our self-touch paradigm, whereas in the control condition (with NG not involved in administering stimulation), NG had failed to detect one-third of Examiner-administered stimulation. When mobility problems are a barrier to investigating self-touch enhancement, the self-touch paradigm can be used to demonstrate residual tactile sensation following stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK. Rebekah.White@psy.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Rebekah C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Aimola Davies
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult