Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity
Patients with conversion disorder generally suffer from a severe neurological deficit which cannot be attributed to a structural neurological damage. In two patients with acute conversion paraplegia, investigation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed that the insular cortex, a li...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2014-05-01
|
| Series: | Brain Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/4/2/396 |
| _version_ | 1831747632458891264 |
|---|---|
| author | Arnaud Saj Noa Raz Netta Levin Tamir Ben-Hur Shahar Arzy |
| author_facet | Arnaud Saj Noa Raz Netta Levin Tamir Ben-Hur Shahar Arzy |
| author_sort | Arnaud Saj |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Patients with conversion disorder generally suffer from a severe neurological deficit which cannot be attributed to a structural neurological damage. In two patients with acute conversion paraplegia, investigation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed that the insular cortex, a limbic-related cortex involved in body-representation and subjective emotional experience, was activated not only during attempt to move the paralytic body-parts, but also during mental imagery of their movements. In addition, mental rotation of affected body-parts was found to be disturbed, as compared to unaffected body parts or external objects. fMRI during mental rotation of the paralytic body-part showed an activation of another limbic related region, the anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that conversion paraplegia is associated with pathological activity in limbic structures involved in body representation and a deficit in mental processing of the affected body-parts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T21:36:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-77e05ed8ecb2401aa68a19549c327d69 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T21:36:20Z |
| publishDate | 2014-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-77e05ed8ecb2401aa68a19549c327d692022-12-21T18:49:28ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252014-05-014239640410.3390/brainsci4020396brainsci4020396Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic ActivityArnaud Saj0Noa Raz1Netta Levin2Tamir Ben-Hur3Shahar Arzy4Department of Fundamental and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva 1211, SwitzerlandDepartment of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem 91120, IsraelDepartment of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem 91120, IsraelDepartment of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem 91120, IsraelDepartment of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem 91120, IsraelPatients with conversion disorder generally suffer from a severe neurological deficit which cannot be attributed to a structural neurological damage. In two patients with acute conversion paraplegia, investigation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed that the insular cortex, a limbic-related cortex involved in body-representation and subjective emotional experience, was activated not only during attempt to move the paralytic body-parts, but also during mental imagery of their movements. In addition, mental rotation of affected body-parts was found to be disturbed, as compared to unaffected body parts or external objects. fMRI during mental rotation of the paralytic body-part showed an activation of another limbic related region, the anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that conversion paraplegia is associated with pathological activity in limbic structures involved in body representation and a deficit in mental processing of the affected body-parts.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/4/2/396conversion disorderhysteriabody-processingmental-imageryinsular cortexanterior cingulate cortexfMRI |
| spellingShingle | Arnaud Saj Noa Raz Netta Levin Tamir Ben-Hur Shahar Arzy Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity Brain Sciences conversion disorder hysteria body-processing mental-imagery insular cortex anterior cingulate cortex fMRI |
| title | Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity |
| title_full | Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity |
| title_fullStr | Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity |
| title_short | Disturbed Mental Imagery of Affected Body-Parts in Patients with Hysterical Conversion Paraplegia Correlates with Pathological Limbic Activity |
| title_sort | disturbed mental imagery of affected body parts in patients with hysterical conversion paraplegia correlates with pathological limbic activity |
| topic | conversion disorder hysteria body-processing mental-imagery insular cortex anterior cingulate cortex fMRI |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/4/2/396 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arnaudsaj disturbedmentalimageryofaffectedbodypartsinpatientswithhystericalconversionparaplegiacorrelateswithpathologicallimbicactivity AT noaraz disturbedmentalimageryofaffectedbodypartsinpatientswithhystericalconversionparaplegiacorrelateswithpathologicallimbicactivity AT nettalevin disturbedmentalimageryofaffectedbodypartsinpatientswithhystericalconversionparaplegiacorrelateswithpathologicallimbicactivity AT tamirbenhur disturbedmentalimageryofaffectedbodypartsinpatientswithhystericalconversionparaplegiacorrelateswithpathologicallimbicactivity AT shahararzy disturbedmentalimageryofaffectedbodypartsinpatientswithhystericalconversionparaplegiacorrelateswithpathologicallimbicactivity |