Disturbances of self–other distinction after stimulation of the extrastriate body area in the human brain

Abstract In a recent experiment with functional magnetic-resonance imaging, we found that brain activity in the extrastriate body area (EBA) distinguished between observed self- and other-generated movements, being significantly higher during observation of someone else's movement. Here, we investigated further the role of EBA in self–other distinctions using low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). As compared with rTMS applied over a control site, rTMS applied over the EBA increased reaction times, without affecting accuracy, for the detection of other-generated movements. Performance on a control motion-direction detection task was unaffected. These findings provide additional evidence for the role of the EBA in processing information necessary for identifying ourselves as agents of self-generated movements.

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