A new Slab paper published in NeuroImage investigates the neural basis of Body Ownership, Sense of Agency, and Multisensory Integration using fMRI and the Rubber Hand Illusion paradigm. In this preregistered study, we employed the Moving Rubber Hand Illusion in fMRI to unveil the neural systems of Sense of Agency (SoA) and Body Ownership (BO), and their relation to the objective sensory stimulations that induce them (Visuomotor and Visuotactile). Using both Visuomotor and Visuotactile stimulations and measuring online trial-by-trial fluctuations in the illusion magnitude, we disentangled brain systems related to objective sensory stimulation and subjective judgments of the bodily self. Sensory stimulation activated multisensory regions across the fronto-parietal regions. However, subjective judgments of bodily self were also found in regions not activated by the sensory conditions, such as the insular cortex and precuneus. Our results highlight the convergence of multisensory processing in specific neural systems for BO & SoA and the involvement of the default mode network (DMN) in subjective judgments. We looked at overlaps of BO & SoA, differences in temporal and anatomical conflicts, PPI (psycho-physiological interaction), and more!

Harduf, A., Shaked, A., Yaniv, A. U., & Salomon, R. (2023). Disentangling the neural correlates of agency, ownership and multisensory processing. NeuroImage, 277, 120255.5