Editorial : When the body feels like mine : constructing and deconstructing the sense of body ownership through the lifespan

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Intra-European Individual Fellowship, 891175Israeli Science Foundation, 1169/17National Institute of Mental Health, R01MH 102272Accepte

Investigating the relationship between self-reported interoceptive experience and risk propensity

Risky behaviour may be associated with visceral experiences, such as increased heart rate. Previous studies examining the relationship between perception of such signals (interoception) and risk-taking typically used behavioural tasks with potential for monetary reward. This approach may be less informative for understanding general risk propensity. In addition, such research does not usually consider the varied ways individuals engage with interoceptive signals. However, examining these different forms of engagement may help us understand how subjective experience of interoception influences risk-taking. As such, we performed two surveys (n = 471, primarily young adults) to examine the relationship between self-reported engagement with interoceptive signals (measured using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness) and a generalised measure of risk propensity (the General Risk Propensity Scale). Results indicated that different ways of interpreting or engaging with interoceptive signals were differentially associated with risk propensity. In particular, they provide preliminary evidence that those with the ability to ignore or not worry about visceral signals when they are uncomfortable display greater risk propensity (and these effects may possibly be gender-specific)

Neural Correlates of Body Integrity Dysphoria

There are few things as irrefutable as the evidence that our limbs belong to us. However, persons with body integrity dysphoria (BID) [1] deny the ownership of one of their fully functional limbs and seek its amputation [2]. We tapped into the brain mechanisms of BID, examining sixteen men desiring the removal of the left healthy leg. The primary sensorimotor area of the to-be-removed leg and the core area of the conscious representation of body size and shape (the right superior parietal lobule [rSPL]) [3, 4] were less functionally connected to the rest of the brain. Furthermore, the left premotor cortex, reportedly involved in the multisensory integration of limb information [5-7], and the rSPL were atrophic. The more atrophic the rSPL, the stronger the desire for amputation, and the more an individual pretended to be an amputee by using wheelchairs or crutches to solve the mismatch between the desired and actual body. Our findings illustrate the pivotal role of the connectivity of the primary sensorimotor limb area in the mediation of the feeling of body ownership. They also delineate the morphometric and functional alterations in areas of higher-order body representation possibly responsible for the dissatisfaction with a standard body configuration. The neural correlates of BID may foster the understanding of other neuropsychiatric disorders involving the bodily self. Ultimately, they may help us understand what most of us take for granted, i.e., the experience of body and self as a seamless unity

Brain Abnormalities in Individuals with a Desire for a Healthy Limb Amputation: Somatosensory, Motoric or Both? A Task-Based fMRI Verdict

Body integrity dysphoria (BID), a long-lasting desire for the amputation of physically healthy limbs, is associated with reduced fMRI resting-state functional connectivity of somatosensory cortices. Here, we used fMRI to evaluate whether these findings could be replicated and expanded using a task-based paradigm. We measured brain activations during somatosensory stimulation and motor tasks for each of the four limbs in ten individuals with a life-long desire for the amputation of the left leg and fourteen controls. For the left leg, BID individuals had reduced brain activation in the right superior parietal lobule for somatosensory stimulation and in the right paracentral lobule for the motor task, areas where we previously found reduced resting-state functional connectivity. In addition, for somatosensory stimulation only, we found a robust reduction in activation of somatosensory areas SII bilaterally, mostly regardless of the stimulated body part. Areas SII were regions of convergent activations for signals from all four limbs in controls to a significantly greater extent than in subjects with BID. We conclude that BID is associated with altered integration of somatosensory and, to a lesser extent, motor signals, involving limb-specific cortical maps and brain regions where the first integration of body-related signals is achieved through convergence

Gerardo Salvato's Quick Files

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In search of the disappeared half of it: 35 years of studies on representational neglect.

OBJECTIVE: Representational neglect (RN) is a neuropsychological deficit mostly occurring after right brain damage affecting the mental imagery domain. Patients suffering from RN are unable to represent, describe, or explore the contralesional side of their mental images. Since its first description in 1978, RN has been explored using different theoretical frameworks and experimental paradigms. After 35 years, the nature of its behavioral and anatomical correlates is still unclear. METHOD: We reviewed studies on RN published from 1978-2013 to systematize available knowledge and to shed light on future research directions. RESULTS: The huge variety of tests used to diagnose RN reflects the different clinical features of the deficit, which can compromise space sectors and memory storage, depending on the stimulus to be imagined, even in a dissociated fashion. RN has been frequently described after parietal, temporal, and frontal right brain lesions, even though reliable group studies are scanty. CONCLUSION: A number of priorities concerning RN were identified. Future studies might take into account several aspects of RN that are still poorly explored, starting from a more systematized investigation of RN using larger group studies. RESULTS might add pieces to the puzzle of spatial cognition and its neural basis in mental imagery, paving the way for tailored motor and cognitive rehabilitation program

Exploring the role of interoception in autobiographical memory recollection

The way we perceive signals coming from the inside of the body (i.e., interoception) may influence the processing of information related to the self. In this study, we investigated whether interoceptive sensibility may play a role in autobiographical memory processes. We evaluated 41 healthy participants with a modified version of the Autobiographical Memory Test, also assessing specificity, vividness, emotional valence, and intensity for autobiographical and public memories. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire measuring interoceptive sensibility. Results showed that autobiographical memories were recalled with higher specificity, vividness, and emotional intensity than public memories. Interestingly, we found that participants with (self reported) high interoceptive sensibility recalled more positive events in the autobiographical compared to the public condition. Our findings provided new evidence on the selective role of physiological aspects of bodily self-awareness in autobiographical memory, suggesting that interoception is fundamental for supporting adaptive emotion regulation processes when recollecting engrams related to the self