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The following is a summary of “Eliciting the rubber hand illusion by the activation of nociceptive C and Aδ fibers,” published in the October 2024 issue of Pain by Coppi et al.
The coherent perceptual experience of one’s body relies on the integration of signals from vision, touch, and proprioception, and nociception gives some information about tissue damage in one’s body.
Researchers conducted a study to examine whether the rubber hand illusion (RHI) can be stimulated by visual and nociceptive stimulation without tactile costimulation and whether it follows the basic rules of the illusion.
They performed 6 experiments with 180 healthy participants, using a Nd:YAP laser stimulator to target C and Aδ fibers and compared the illusion (congruent visuonociceptive stimulation) to control conditions, quantified through direct (questionnaire) and indirect (proprioceptive drift) behavioral actions.
The results showed that a nociceptive rubber hand illusion (N-RHI) could be produced and relied on the spatiotemporal congruence of visuonociceptive signals, which are constant with basic principles of multisensory integration.
They concluded that nociceptive information contributes to the sense of body ownership and shapes multisensory bodily understanding.
Source: journals.lww.com/pain/fulltext/2024/10000/eliciting_the_rubber_hand_illusion_by_the.11.aspx
