title: Crossmodal representation of a functional robotic hand arises after extensive training in healthy participants.
abstract: The way in which humans represent their own bodies is critical in guiding their interactions with the environment. To achieve successful body-space interactions, the body representation is strictly connected with that of the space immediately surrounding it through efficient visuo-tactile crossmodal integration. Such a body-space integrated representation is not fixed, but can be dynamically modulated by the use of external tools. Our study aims to explore the effect of using a complex tool, namely a functional prosthesis, on crossmodal visuo-tactile spatial interactions in healthy participants. By using the crossmodal visuo-tactile congruency paradigm, we found that prolonged training with a mechanical hand capable of distal hand movements and providing sensory feedback induces a pattern of interference, which is not observed after a brief training, between visual stimuli close to the prosthesis and touches on the body. These results suggest that after extensive, but not short, training the functional prosthesis acquires a visuo-tactile crossmodal representation akin to real limbs. This finding adds to previous evidence for the embodiment of functional prostheses in amputees, and shows that their use may also improve the crossmodal combination of somatosensory feedback delivered by the prosthesis with visual stimuli in the space around it, thus effectively augmenting the patients' visuomotor abilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Tagliabue
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Ambra V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Sposito
authors.affiliation: Noser Engineering AG, Root Längenbold, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Arieta
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland; Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brugger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Estévez
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy. Electronic address: angelo.maravita@unimib.it.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maravita
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001186:Artificial Limbs / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D012371:Robotics; D013028:Space Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D055698:Touch Perception; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Crossmodal interactions; Peripersonal space; Plasticity; Prosthesis; Visuo-tactile interference; Visuomotor control