Is the rubber hand illusion associated with somatic symptom reporting?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Somatosensory research

Background:

• Somatic symptom perception involves bottom-up and top-down processes, similar to multisensory integration in the rubber hand illusion (RHI).
• Previous research on the association between somatic symptom perception and RHI has yielded equivocal results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between somatic symptom distress and the strength of the rubber hand illusion (RHI).
• To determine if somatic symptom perception and RHI are related phenomena.

Main Methods:

• A non-clinical sample (N=63) completed the Patient Health Questionnaire Somatic Symptom Scale (PHQ-15).
• Participants underwent an experiment to induce the RHI, measuring proprioceptive drift, felt body ownership, and felt body disownership.
• Repeated measures analyses of variance were used with PHQ-15 scores as a covariate.

Main Results:

• No significant interaction effects were found between PHQ-15 scores and indicators of the RHI (proprioceptive drift, felt body ownership, felt body disownership).
• Both frequentist and Bayesian analyses indicated inconclusive support for an association between PHQ-15 scores and RHI indicators.
• The association between somatic symptom distress and RHI strength appears weak or non-existent in this non-clinical sample.

Conclusions:

• Somatic symptom distress and the rubber hand illusion appear to be distinct and largely unrelated phenomena in non-clinical populations.
• The findings do not support a significant link between the subjective experience of somatic symptoms and the sense of body ownership evoked by RHI.
• Further research may be needed to explore potential subtle associations or mediating factors in different populations.