A Ilusão da Mão de Borracha: Evidências de Integração Multissensorial da Propriocepção

Abstract

This review seeks to describe a multisensory integration hypothesis for proprioception through the description of different Rubber Hand Illusion (rhi) experimental settings. rhi is a paradigm created in 1998 to explore the relation between visual and tactile sensory systems. The task involves a synchronous stroking, using a paintbrush, of one of a subject’s hands occluded from his vision, and a prosthetic rubber hand located in front of the subject. Instructed to look at the rubber hand, the subject starts to feel as if the rubber hand is his own hand after approximately half a minute, which is to say that the illusion produces a feeling of ownership of the rubber hand. Additional research over the last 15 years has widely explored these results, illustrating the dynamic functions of the brain and body sensory systems, as well as shedding light on the bases of amputee rehabilitation and different types of paresthesia. The review is structured around three topics: (1) the definition, limits, and scope of rhi; (2) the physiological and neurocognitive evidence backing rhi; and (3) the use of action based rhi experimental settings. The paper concludes that rhi is a salient example of a neuroscientific trend towards an integrated account of body, brain, and perceptual space. The discovery of the illusion has also provided an alternative context for the study of proprioception and related brain dynamics in normal subjects.