Article

The holistic view of the person is the essence of the physiotherapy.
Knowledge of approaches that develop the whole person promotes better patient
outcomes. Multisensory Self-referential stimulation, more than a unisensory one,
seems to produce a holistic experience of the Self (Core-Self). OBJECTIVES:
(1) To analyze the somatotopic brain activation during unisensory and multisensorial
Self-referential stimulus; and
(2) to understand if the areas activated by
multisensorial Self-referential stimulation are the ones responsible for the
"Core-Self." METHODS: An exploratory functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
study was performed with 10 healthy subjects, under the stimulation of the lower
limbs with three Self-referential stimuli: unisensory auditory-verbal, unisensory
tactile-manual, and multisensory, applying the unisensory stimuli simultaneously.
RESULTS: Unisensory stimulation elicits bilateral activations of the
temporoparietal junction (TPJ), of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), of the
primary motor cortex (BA4), of the premotor cortex (BA6) and of BA44;
multisensory stimulation also elicits activity in TPJ, BA4, and BA6, and when
compared with unisensory stimuli, activations were found in: (1) Cortical and
subcortical midline structures-BA7 (precuneus), BA9 (medial prefrontal cortex),
BA30 (posterior cingulated), superior colliculum and posterior cerebellum; and
(2) Posterior lateral cortex-TPJ, posterior BA13 (insula), BA19, and BA37.
Bilateral TPJ is the one that showed the biggest activation volume. CONCLUSION:
This specific multisensory stimulation produces a brain activation map in regions
that are responsible for multisensory Self-processing and may represent the
Core-Self. We recommend the use of this specific multisensory stimulation as a
physiotherapy intervention strategy that might promote the Self-reorganization.

Langue : ANGLAIS