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Published Online July 1, 2004
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1097011

Reports

Submitted on February 20, 2004
Accepted on June 2, 2004

That's My Hand! Activity in Premotor Cortex Reflects Feeling of Ownership of a Limb

H. Henrik Ehrsson 1*, Charles Spence 2, Richard E. Passingham 3

1 Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
2 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK.
3 Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
H. Henrik Ehrsson , E-mail: h.ehrsson{at}fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk

When we look at our hands we immediately know that they are part of our own body. This feeling of ownership of our limbs is a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness. We have studied the neuronal counterparts of this experience. A perceptual illusion was used to manipulate feelings of ownership of a rubber hand presented in front of healthy subjects while brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The neural activity in the premotor cortex reflected the feeling of ownership of the hand. This suggests that multisensory integration in the premotor cortex provides a mechanism for bodily self-attribution.


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