The Study of Neural Correlates on Body Ownership Modulated By the Sense of Agency Using Virtual Reality

Abstract

The sense of one's own body as part of the self is a fundamental aspect of self-awareness. The recent distinction between sense of agency and sense of body-ownership has attracted considerable empirical and theoretical interest. In this study, we compared the strength of virtual hand illusion induced by agency controlled movement, to investigate the contributions of visual-motor stimulation and ownership to body using fMRI and behavioral study. In the synchronous conditions, virtual hand angle scaled by a scale factor of real hand angle, while the asynchronous condition showed virtual hand angle didn't correspond to real hand angle. Left precentral gyrus, left SMA, left anterior cingulate cortex and right parahippocampal were significant differences between synchronous condition and asynchronous condition with visual feedback. Left SMA was correlated positively with ownership score. The SMA function is integrated various sensory inputs and optimized action selected and compare body forward model with proprioception, then estimate body image.