Title
I'm a believer: Illusory self-generated touch elicits sensory attenuation and somatosensory evoked potentials similar to the real self-touch
Abstract
Sensory attenuation (i.e., the phenomenon whereby self-produced sensations are perceived as less intense compared to externally occurring ones) is among the neurocognitive processes that help distinguishing ourselves from others. It is thought to be rooted in the motor system (e.g., related to motor intention and prediction), while the role of body awareness, which necessarily accompanies any voluntary movement, in this phenomenon is largely unknown. To fill this gap, here we compared the perceived intensity, somatosensory evoked potentials, and alpha-band desynchronization for self-generated, other-generated, and embodied-fake-hand-generated somatosensory stimuli. We showed that sensory attenuation triggered by the own hand and by the embodied fake hand had the same behavioral and neurophysiological signatures (reduced subjective intensity, reduced of N140 and P200 SEP components and post-stimulus alpha-band desynchronization). Therefore, signals subserving body ownership influenced attenuation of somatosensory stimuli, possibly in a postdictive manner. This indicates that body ownership is crucial for distinguishing the source of the perceived sensations.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117727
NeuroImage
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Body ownership,Sense of agency,Sensory attenuation,Somatosensory evoked potentials
Journal
229
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
1053-8119
0
0.34
References 
Authors
3
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Maria Pyasik100.34
Irene Ronga201.35
Dalila Burin300.34
Adriana Salatino400.34
Pietro Sarasso500.34
Francesca Garbarini632.15
Raffaella Ricci700.34
Lorenzo Pia811.07