Evaluation of mouse model of developmental disorders by using body ownership illusion task

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26700012
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Principal Investigator: Wada Makoto 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), 研究所 脳機能系障害研究部, 研究室長 (20407331)
• Research Collaborator: FURUICHI Teiichi ; KANSAKU Kenji ; SHINODA Yo ; SANO Yoshitake ; IDE Masakazu ; ATSUMI Takeshi ; NAWA Taemi ; KUME Naoko
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 多感覚統合 / 身体性 / マウス / 自閉症モデル動物 / 免疫染色

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), they have impairment in body representations and it may cause deficits in motor behaviors and viewpoints. In typically developing individuals, when someone’s hand and a fake hand (i.e., rubber hand) are stroking synchronously, the participant feels the fake hand becomes her/his own hand. In contrast, individuals with ASD feel this illusion much weaker. We found even mice may feel such kind of body ownership illusions. A fake tail and a tail were synchronously stroking more than one minute. When the fake tail was grasped, a mouse responded as if his actual tail was grasped (rubber tail response). We examined whether the rubber tail response is intact or not in autism model mice, and found that response rates were not significantly different between test and control conditions in Caps2 KO mice, and decreased c-Fos expressions in the posterior parietal cortex might be related. Multisensory integration might be impaired in the KO mice.

Free Research Field

認知科学