Spinal cord injury affects the interplay between visual and sensorimotor representations of the body.

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_7B2D61B1AFC1
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Spinal cord injury affects the interplay between visual and sensorimotor representations of the body.
Journal
Scientific reports
Author(s)
Ionta S., Villiger M., Jutzeler C.R., Freund P., Curt A., Gassert R.
ISSN
2045-2322 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
2045-2322
Publication state
Published
Issued date
04/02/2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
6
Pages
20144
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: epublish
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Abstract
The brain integrates multiple sensory inputs, including somatosensory and visual inputs, to produce a representation of the body. Spinal cord injury (SCI) interrupts the communication between brain and body and the effects of this deafferentation on body representation are poorly understood. We investigated whether the relative weight of somatosensory and visual frames of reference for body representation is altered in individuals with incomplete or complete SCI (affecting lower limbs' somatosensation), with respect to controls. To study the influence of afferent somatosensory information on body representation, participants verbally judged the laterality of rotated images of feet, hands, and whole-bodies (mental rotation task) in two different postures (participants' body parts were hidden from view). We found that (i) complete SCI disrupts the influence of postural changes on the representation of the deafferented body parts (feet, but not hands) and (ii) regardless of posture, whole-body representation progressively deteriorates proportionally to SCI completeness. These results demonstrate that the cortical representation of the body is dynamic, responsive, and adaptable to contingent conditions, in that the role of somatosensation is altered and partially compensated with a change in the relative weight of somatosensory versus visual bodily representations.

Keywords
Adolescent, Adult, Body Image, Case-Control Studies, Child, Child, Preschool, Hand/physiology, Humans, Paraplegia/physiopathology, Quadriplegia/physiopathology, Somatosensory Cortex/physiology, Spinal Cord Injuries/physiopathology, Spinal Cord Injuries/rehabilitation, Visual Cortex/physiology, Young Adult
Pubmed
Open Access
Yes
Create date
12/02/2016 16:23
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:37
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