title: Ownership of an artificial limb induced by electrical brain stimulation.
abstract: Replacing the function of a missing or paralyzed limb with a prosthetic device that acts and feels like one's own limb is a major goal in applied neuroscience. Recent studies in nonhuman primates have shown that motor control and sensory feedback can be achieved by connecting sensors in a robotic arm to electrodes implanted in the brain. However, it remains unknown whether electrical brain stimulation can be used to create a sense of ownership of an artificial limb. In this study on two human subjects, we show that ownership of an artificial hand can be induced via the electrical stimulation of the hand section of the somatosensory (SI) cortex in synchrony with touches applied to a rubber hand. Importantly, the illusion was not elicited when the electrical stimulation was delivered asynchronously or to a portion of the SI cortex representing a body part other than the hand, suggesting that multisensory integration according to basic spatial and temporal congruence rules is the underlying mechanism of the illusion. These findings show that the brain is capable of integrating "natural" visual input and direct cortical-somatosensory stimulation to create the multisensory perception that an artificial limb belongs to one's own body. Thus, they serve as a proof of concept that electrical brain stimulation can be used to "bypass" the peripheral nervous system to induce multisensory illusions and ownership of artificial body parts, which has important implications for patients who lack peripheral sensory input due to spinal cord or nerve lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; arvid.guterstam@ki.se kellyco@u.washington.edu.
authors.forename: Kelly L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden; arvid.guterstam@ki.se kellyco@u.washington.edu.
authors.forename: Arvid
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3694-1318
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guterstam
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.|Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105.
authors.forename: Jeneva
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.affiliation: Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105.|Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
authors.forename: Jared D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden.
authors.forename: H Henrik
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Ehrsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.|Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105.
authors.forename: Jeffrey G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Ojemann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D001828:Body Image; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: body perception; electrical brain stimulation; multisensory integration; neuroprosthetics; self