You know that feeling you get sometimes when you're alone, and you think that there's someone standing right behind you? For most people, this is a common nuisance, but for people with neurological conditions such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer's, this feeling is a real symptom and can turn into a true torment. It is called Feeling of Presence, or FoP, and this is really the stuff of ghost stories, but although scientists do not really understand the source of this feeling, they do believe that it is caused by some sensorimotor conflict, or an imbalance between what the mind perceives and what the body feels. Neuroscientists in Switzerland, however, have developed a robot that simulates this feeling by using input from the person to move the robot behind them. So if the person moves a finger forward, like they are touching someone, the robot will move behind them and touch their backs. Researchers hope that this new robot will be able to answer some questions regarding FoP and maybe even lead to a cure/treatment.
More information and video of how it works here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-robot-messes-with-your-brain-until-you-feel-a-ghostly-presence/
I'm a little confused on how this device works. What does a person moving a finger have to do with them feeling like someone is behind them? Also, how does a robot touching a person's back stimulate a reaction similar to FoP?
ReplyDeleteSo now instead of ghosts standing behind you, there's robots? Next thing you know there's robot ghosts. Jokes aside however, how exactly do mentally ill people experience this, and is it a big enough problem in order to be researched?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know, mentally ill patients experience a "feeling" because of their condition. For example, schizophrenia might activate an area of an individual's brain to create this ghost-like sensation. Other neural conditions can cause the brain to be overactive in some regions and less active in others- this is problematic because it can cause an individual to see, feel, of hear something that really isn't there.
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