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COMT genotype is associated with plasticity in sense of body ownership: a pilot study

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Abstract

The sense of body ownership constantly adapts to new environments, and awareness of a distinction between oneself and others is a fundamental ability. However, it remains unclear whether plasticity in the sense of body ownership is dependent on genetic factors. The present study investigated the influence of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met genotype on illusory learning of a sense of body ownership and dissociation. 76 healthy Japanese participants experienced the rubber hand illusion (RHI), which is produced by sensory integration of conflicting modalities, with the intent to experimentally alter objective perceived locations and subjective ownership ratings. We found that Val/Val homozygous participants had more intense RHI experiences than Val/Met heterozygous and Met homozygous participants. Furthermore, RHI sensation was correlated with a dissociative personality trait in Val/Val homozygous participants. Our findings indicate an interaction between COMT genotype, RHI sensation, and dissociative personality traits: Val/Val genotypes were associated with RHI induction and greater vulnerability to dissociation. The findings suggest that Val/Val homozygous individuals may be more flexible regarding self-attribution/body ownership and that biological factors may contribute to reduced awareness regarding the distinction between self and others.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific research (#24650142 and #15H04897) from the Japan Science and Technology (JST) Corporation, the Japan Foundation for Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Takeda Science Foundation, and the SENSHIN Medical Research Foundation. We thank Sayori Koyama, Miyuki Shimazaki, and Mikiko Kimura for assistance with the experiment.

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  1. Department of Adult Mental Health, Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, National, Tokyo, 187–8502, Japan

    Motoyasu Honma, Takuya Yoshiike, Hiroki Ikeda & Kenichi Kuriyama

  2. Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8666, Japan

    Motoyasu Honma

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta Tsukinowa-cho, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan

    Takuya Yoshiike & Kenichi Kuriyama

  4. Research Center for Overwork-Related Disorders, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Nagao 6-21-1, Tama-Ku, Kawasaki, 214-8585, Japan

    Hiroki Ikeda

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  1. Motoyasu Honma
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Honma, M., Yoshiike, T., Ikeda, H. et al. COMT genotype is associated with plasticity in sense of body ownership: a pilot study. Psychological Research 82, 634–644 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-017-0849-7

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