How vestibular stimulation interacts with illusory hand ownership

Artificial stimulation of the peripheral vestibular system has been shown to improve ownership of body parts in neurological patients, suggesting vestibular contributions to bodily self-consciousness Here, we investigated whether galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) interferes with the mechanisms underlying ownership, touch, and the localization of one's own hand in healthy participants by using the rubber hand illusion paradigm Our results show that left anodal GVS increases illusory ownership of the fake hand and Illusory location of touch. We propose that these changes ate due to vestibular interference with spatial and/or temporal mechanisms of visual-tactile integration leading to an enhancement of Visual capture As only left anodal GVS lead to such changes, and based oil neurological data on body part ownership. we suggest that this vestibular interference is mediated by the right temporo-parietal junction and the posterior insula (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved