Neurological and robot-controlled induction of an apparition

Olaf Blanke, Polona Pozeg, Masayuki Hara, Lukas Heydrich, Andrea Serino, Akio Yamamoto, Toshiro Higuchi, Roy Salomon, Margitta Seeck, Theodor Landis, Shahar Arzy, Bruno Herbelin, Hannes Bleuler, Giulio Rognini

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tales of ghosts, wraiths, and other apparitions have been reported in virtually all cultures. The strange sensation that somebody is nearby when no one is actually present and cannot be seen (feeling of a presence, FoP) is a fascinating feat of the human mind, and this apparition is often covered in the literature of divinity, occultism, and fiction. Although it is described by neurological and psychiatric patients [1, 2] and healthy individuals in different situations [1, 3, 4], it is not yet understood howthe phenomenon is triggered by the brain. Here, we performed lesion analysis in neurological FoP patients, supported by an analysis of associated neurological deficits. Our data show that the FoP is an illusory own-body perceptionwith well-defined characteristics that is associated with sensorimotor loss and caused by lesions in three distinct brain regions: temporoparietal, insular, and especially frontoparietal cortex. Based on these data and recent experimental advances of multisensory own-body illusions [5-9], we designed a master-slave robotic system that generated specific sensorimotor conflicts and enabled us to induce the FoP and related illusory own-body perceptions experimentally in normal participants. These data show that the illusion of feeling another person nearby is caused by misperceiving the source and identity of sensorimotor (tactile, proprioceptive, andmotor) signals ofone'sown body.Ourfindings reveal theneuralmechanisms of the FoP, highlight the subtlebalance of brain mechanisms that generate the experience of ''self'' and ''other,'' and advance the understanding of the brain mechanisms responsible for hallucinations in schizophrenia.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2681-2686
Number of pages6
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume24
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 Nov 2014
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Center of Competence in Research - Synapsy (The Synaptic Bases of Mental Diseases) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and it was financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (#51AU40_125759), the Roger de Spoelberch Foundation, and the Bertarelli Foundation.

FundersFunder number
National Center of Competence in Research - Synapsy
Fondation Bertarelli
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science26700027
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung51AU40_125759
Fondation Roger de Spoelberch

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Neurological and robot-controlled induction of an apparition'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this