Amputees Can Experience Prosthetic Hand As Their Own

succeeded in inducing people with an amputated arm to experience a prosthetic rubber hand as belonging to their own body. The results can lead to the development of a new type of touch-sensitive prosthetic hands

The illusion of having a rubber hand was achieved by the scientists by touching the stump of the amputated arm out of sight of the subject while simultaneously touching the rubber hand in full view of the same subject.

created the illusion that the sensory input was coming from the prosthetic hand

The effect was confirmed by the subjects’ own descriptions of the experience and by their tendency to point to the hand when asked to localise the point of stimulation

That they experienced the rubber hand as their own was also substantiated physiologically in that they started to sweat when the hand was pricked with a needle

“If this makes it possible to make a prosthetic sensitive by cheating the brain

important step towards better