Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo Gemelli 1, 20123 Milan, Italy.
Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo Gemelli 1, 20123 Milan, Italy.
Multisens Res. 2020 Sep 7;34(4):441-453. doi: 10.1163/22134808-bja10037.
According to implicit accounts, human self-awareness grounds on the so-called sense of ownership (SoO). Empirical investigations of SoO have mostly focused on the manipulation of self-ascription of sensations and experiences involving the body via the induction of bodily illusions, such as the Rubber-Hand Illusion (RHI). While it has been proposed that the affective dimension necessarily contributes to the development of a full ownership ascription, the relationship between affective experience and body ownership still presents many open questions. This study thus aimed at investigating the boundaries of ownership ascriptions and the extent to which an external object can be incorporated within one's own body representation, with a specific focus on the possibility for it to become a potential object of own affective experience marked by specific electrophysiological responses. Therefore, we induced RHI in 16 participants and then applied an aversive vs. pleasant stimulation to the embodied external object, while monitoring their electrophysiological activity for central physiological markers of affective processing. Data analysis revealed the effect of the stimulation condition on alpha band power over frontal areas, with higher alpha power during the pleasant stimulation condition with respect to the aversive stimulation one over medial and right frontal electrode sites. The present findings add to the limited pieces of evidence concerning the link between experiences of illusory body ownership, embodiment mechanisms, and affective factors, suggesting that the boundaries of body ownership might be extended to making incorporated objects the source of complex emotional responses beyond basic defensive reactions.
根据隐含的说法，人类的自我意识建立在所谓的自我所有权（SoO）基础上。对 SoO 的实证研究大多集中在通过诱导身体幻觉（例如橡胶手错觉（RHI））来操纵与身体相关的感觉和体验的自我归属。虽然有人提出情感维度必然有助于完全所有权的归属，但情感体验和身体所有权之间的关系仍然存在许多悬而未决的问题。因此，本研究旨在调查所有权归属的界限，以及外部物体在多大程度上可以被纳入自己的身体表征中，并特别关注它是否有可能成为自己情感体验的潜在对象，并通过特定的电生理反应来标记。因此，我们在 16 名参与者中诱导了 RHI，然后对体现的外部物体施加厌恶或愉悦刺激，同时监测他们的电生理活动，以获取情感处理的中央生理标记。数据分析显示，刺激条件对额区 alpha 波段功率的影响，与厌恶刺激相比，愉悦刺激条件下的 alpha 功率更高，在中侧和右侧额部电极部位。本研究结果增加了关于虚幻身体所有权体验、体现机制和情感因素之间联系的有限证据，表明身体所有权的界限可能会扩展到将被纳入的物体作为复杂情绪反应的来源，而不仅仅是基本防御反应。
