SynthesisPloS one2019
What is the effect of bodily illusions on corticomotoneuronal excitability? A systematic review.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Differences in the early stages of motor learning between visual-motor illusion and action observation.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Muscle tendon vibration revisited: Why tonic vibration reflex and kinaesthetic illusions matter.The Journal of physiology · 2026Review
- Relationship between resting-state functional connectivity and change in motor function after motor imagery intervention in patients with stroke: a scoping review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2023Article
- From rubber hands to neuroprosthetics: Neural correlates of embodiment.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- No reduction in motor-evoked potential amplitude during the rubber hand illusion.Brain and behavior · 2023Article
- The neuroscience of body memory: Recent findings and conceptual advances.EXCLI journal · 2023Review
- The effect of visually manipulating back size and morphology on back perception, body ownership, and attitudes towards self-capacity during a lifting task.Psychological research · 2022Article
- "Tricking the Brain" Using Immersive Virtual Reality: Modifying the Self-Perception Over Embodied Avatar Influences Motor Cortical Excitability and Action Initiation.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis systematic review aimed to summarise and critically appraise the evidence for the effect of bodily illusions on corticomotoneuronal excitability.
methodsFive databases were searched, with two independent reviewers completing study inclusion, risk of bias, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) reporting quality, and data extraction. Included studies evaluated the effect of an illusion that altered perception of the body (and/or its movement) on excitability of motor circuitry in healthy, adult, human participants. Studies were required to: use TMS to measure excitability and/or inhibition; report quantitative outcomes (e.g., motor evoked potentials); compare the illusion to a control or active comparison condition; evaluate that an illusion had occurred (e.g., measured illusion strength/presence).
resultsOf 2,257 studies identified, 11 studies (14 experiments) were included, evaluating kinaesthetic illusions (n = 5), a rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm (n = 5), and a missing limb illusion (n = 1). Kinaesthetic illusions (induced via vision/tendon vibration) increased corticomotoneuronal excitability. Conflicting effects were found for traditional, visuotactile RHIs of a static hand. However, embodying a hand and then observing it move ("self-action") resulted in decreased corticomotoneuronal excitability and increased silent period duration (a measure of Gamma-Aminobutynic acid [GABA]B-mediated intracortical inhibition in motor cortex), with the opposite occurring (increased excitability, decreased inhibition) when the fake hand was not embodied prior to observing movement ("other-action"). Visuomotor illusions manipulating agency had conflicting results, but in the lower risk study, illusory agency over movement resulted in a relative decrease in corticomotoneuronal excitability. Last, an illusion of a missing limb reduced corticomotoneuronal excitability.
conclusionWhile evidence for the effect of bodily illusions on corticomotoneuronal excitability was limited (only 14 experiments) and had a high risk of bias, kinaesthetic illusions and illusions of embodying a hand (and seeing it move), had consistent effects. Future investigations into the role of embodiment and the illusion strength on corticomotoneuronal excitability and inhibition are warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.