Embodiment of others' hands elicits arousal responses similar to one's own hands

Does ‘my’ body representation refer only to ‘me’ or can another person’s body parts be incorporated into my own somato-sensory experience? And, if so, does this incorporation elicit physiological reactions similar to those observed for one’s own body? The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis in a monothematic delusion of body ownership, in which brain-damaged patients claim that the examiner’s hand is their own 1 and 2. By recording the skin conductance response (SCR) during noxious stimulations, we have found that an alien hand can be so deeply embedded into a patient’s somato-sensory experience as to elicit physiological reactions of a kind normally specific to one’s own hands.