# Investigation of Embodiment for Upper Limb Amputees

> **NIH VA IK2** · VA EASTERN COLORADO HEALTH CARE SYSTEM · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Project Summary
Today, prosthetic hands are numb. They provide no tactile or proprioceptive sensory
information back to the user. The lack of sensory feedback has been shown to reduce the utility
of a prosthesis by half. The prosthesis is seen as a tool, not as an incorporated part of the body
schema. Only now are there chronically-implantable technologies which can provide
physiologically appropriate sensory feedback to upper limb amputees to recreate tactile and
proprioceptive percepts. These sensations are the building blocks to enable the embodiment of
the device. Furthermore, newly developed outcome measures are now available which can
detail the improved embodiment such neural interfaces can create. My mission is to enable the
embodiment of artificial devices using peripheral nerve stimulation and thereby close the gap
between the experience of our intact physiological systems and those using prosthetic remedies.
This investigation of embodiment for upper limb amputees is organized into three main areas of
work including 1) normative data collection, 2) device development, and 3) characterization of
embodiment using peripheral nerve stimulation. The normative data collection will quantify
the embodiment of conventional cosmetic, body-powered, and myoelectric prosthetic hand
options using a modified Rubber Hand Illusion protocol (Specific Aim 1). This thrust will ask
how does the amount of embodiment vary among conventional prosthetic hands as well as
probe the relationship between agency and embodiment. The device development project
entails the design of multi-modal sensors in order to study full-hand embodiment (Specific Aim
2). The ability to measure and then elicit sensation on the passive surfaces of the hand (palm,
ulnar border, and dorsal surface) has never been explored. Here, a multi-modal sensor which
can detect proximity, contact, and force will be integrated into a commercially available
prosthetic hand in order to provide detailed measurements across the palm, ulnar border, and
dorsal surfaces in order to study embodiment in more depth. Finally, the characterization of
embodiment using peripheral nerve stimulation will take place over a multiple subject factorial
experiment which quantifies the effects of quantity and spatial parameters of the peripheral
nerve stimulation on the embodiment of prosthetic hands (Specific Aim 3). This study asks
what somatosensory percepts from the hand are most critical for embodiment by varying the
parameters of the peripheral nerve stimulation (quantity and spatiality) and measuring the
level of embodiment in each case. This investigation will be the first thorough (multiple subjects
with peripheral nerve interfaces), systematic (paired factorial design), and exhaustive (using all
electrodes in the neural interface) study to be performed.
Finally, an additional goal to the scientific mission of this proposal is the creation of the Neural
Interface and Sensory Restoration Laboratory in the Rocky...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10490285
- **Project number:** 5IK2RX003282-03
- **Recipient organization:** VA EASTERN COLORADO HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Jacob Segil
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-11-01 → 2025-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10490285

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10490285, Investigation of Embodiment for Upper Limb Amputees (5IK2RX003282-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10490285. Licensed CC0.

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