Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32318103›Full record

ArticleNeural plasticity2020

Effects of Rubber Hand Illusion and Excitatory Theta Burst Stimulation on Tactile Sensation: A Pilot Study.

Vanessa N Frey, Kevin Butz, Georg Zimmermann, Alexander Kunz, Yvonne Höller, Stefan Golaszewski, Eugen Trinka, Raffaele Nardone

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neural plasticity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 36% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.

Vanessa N FreyDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-5337-1273
Kevin ButzDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.
Georg ZimmermannDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.
Alexander KunzDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.
Yvonne HöllerDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-1727-8557
Stefan GolaszewskiDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-2055-0072
Eugen TrinkaDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.
Raffaele NardoneDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, PMU, Salzburg, Austria.
Christian Doppler Klinik · ATUniversity of Salzburg · AT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Synchronous visuotactile stimulation on the own hidden hand and a visible fake limb can alter bodily self-perception and influence spontaneous neuroplasticity. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm experimentally produces an illusion of rubber hand ownership and arm shift by simultaneously stroking a rubber hand in view and a participant's visually occluded hand. The aim of this cross-over, placebo-controlled, single-blind study was to assess whether RHI, in combination with high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) given as intermittent (excitatory) theta burst stimulation (iTBS) applied over the hand area of the primary sensory region (S1) can enhance tactile sensation in a group of 21 healthy subjects and one patient with cervical spinal cord injury. Four sessions covered all combinations of real and sham stimulations of the RHI and the TBS: real TBS and real RHI, real TBS and sham RHI, sham TBS and real RHI, and both conditions sham. The condition sham TBS and real RHI shows the greatest effect on the proprioceptive drift (median 2.3 cm, IQR 2) and on the score of RHI questionnaires (median 3, IQR 2) in the control group as well as in the real-real condition (median 2, IQR 2). The sham TBS and real RHI condition also shows the best results in the electrical perception test of the patient (median 1.9 mA). Conversely, the upregulation of the cortical excitability of S1 via TBS seems to impair the effect of the RHI. This might be due to a strengthening of the top-down connection between the central nervous system and the periphery, diminishing the RHI. This finding helps in understanding the mechanisms of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in healthy subjects and patients with spinal cord injury. The RHI paradigm could represent an interesting therapeutic approach in improving tactile sensation and rTMS techniques could modulate these effects. Yet, further studies are needed, to examine the direction of the interaction effect of TMS and RH.

Indexed as

Self ConceptTouchAdultCervical CordCortical ExcitabilityCross-Over StudiesFemaleHumansIllusionsMaleMiddle AgedPilot ProjectsProprioceptionSomatosensory CortexSpinal Cord InjuriesTranscranial Magnetic Stimulation

Identifiers

PMID32318103
PMCPMC7152971
OpenAlexW3015045653

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.