The dynamic nature of the sense of ownership after brain injury. Clues from asomatognosia and somatoparaphrenia

The sense of ownership is the feeling that a body part belongs to ourselves. Brain damage may disrupt this feeling, leading to somatoparaphrenia (SP), i.e., the delusion that one's limbs belong to someone else. This delusional feeling is typically associated with profound motor and somatosensory deficits. We reviewed the cases of SP reported so far in the literature outlining the clinical and neuroanatomical profile of SP. We then investigated and reported three new peculiar cases of SP that allow new insights into the theoretical framework of this neuropsychological condition. We thus propose an innovative theoretical account that integrates previous evidence and the new cases described. We suggest that a defective update of the ongoing dynamic representation of the body finalised to perception and action, may be the key for the disownership feelings of patients with SP. The erroneous spatial representation of the limb contralateral to the lesion would have the logical consequence of delusional misattribution of the seen own arm