1IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2013 Oct;27(8):704-8. doi: 10.1177/1545968313491009. Epub 2013 Jun 10.
Bodily sensations are an important component of corporeal awareness. Spinal cord injury can leave affected body parts insentient and unmoving, leading to specific disturbances in the mental representation of one's own body and the sense of self.
Here, we explored how illusions induced by multisensory stimulation influence immediate sensory signals and tactile awareness in patients with spinal cord injuries.
The rubber hand illusion paradigm was applied to 2 patients with chronic and complete spinal cord injury of the sixth cervical spine, with severe somatosensory impairments in 2 of 5 fingers.
Both patients experienced a strong illusion of ownership of the rubber hand during synchronous, but not asynchronous, stroking. They also, spontaneously reported basic tactile sensations in their previously numb fingers. Tactile awareness from seeing the rubber hand was enhanced by progressively increasing the stimulation duration.
Multisensory illusions directly and specifically modulate the reemergence of sensory memories and enhance tactile sensation, despite (or as a result of) prior deafferentation. When sensory inputs are lost, and are later illusorily regained, the brain updates a coherent body image even several years after the body has become permanently unable to feel. This particular example of neural plasticity represents a significant opportunity to strengthen the sense of the self and the feelings of embodiment in patients with spinal cord injury.
体感是体感意识的一个重要组成部分。脊髓损伤会使受影响的身体部位失去知觉和运动能力，导致对自身身体的心理表征和自我意识出现特定的障碍。
本研究旨在探讨多感觉刺激诱导的错觉如何影响脊髓损伤患者的即时感觉信号和触觉意识。
应用橡胶手错觉范式对 2 名颈 6 位慢性完全性脊髓损伤患者进行研究，这 2 名患者的 5 个手指中有 2 个严重丧失了体感。
在同步而非异步的刺激下，两名患者都经历了强烈的橡胶手错觉。他们还自发地报告了先前麻木的手指有基本的触觉。通过逐渐增加刺激时间，来自于看到橡胶手的触觉意识得到增强。
尽管（或由于）先前去传入，多感觉错觉直接且特定地调节感觉记忆的重新出现，并增强触觉。当感觉输入丢失，然后被幻觉重新获得时，大脑会更新一个连贯的身体形象，即使在身体永久性地无法感知之后，也能维持数年。这种神经可塑性的特殊例子代表了一个重要的机会，可以增强脊髓损伤患者的自我意识和身体存在感。
