Disturbed self-perception

Researchers suggest that electrical stimuli may have disrupted the brain's perception of the body. The temporoparietal junction in the brain has been linked to self-perception and the processes that allow us to distinguish ourselves from others. This brain region helps people understand their spatial environment and their body's position within it.

“This area, as we know, is involved in the integration of different senses, like vision, hearing, touch – all the senses that allow us to determine where your body is in space and what you are feeling,” Ortigue said.

Overactivity in this area has been observed in schizophrenics, who attribute their own actions to other people. Idil Cavus, professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine (USA), said the research report was interesting and promising, but she disagreed with it.

"Only one issue has been discussed. The question is whether this is something that can be induced in other patients, or whether it is specific to just one patient [because of her epilepsy]," Cavus said. She added that schizophrenia is a much more complex condition than the study revealed. While shadow perception is reminiscent, it is not the same as the delusions that plague schizophrenics.

"They describe seeing and hearing things that may be around them. [The illusions] can be sounds or visions of people. Many times it's a feeling of being watched, followed, talked to. People can have very complex delusions of extraterrestrial control or having objects implanted in their brains or other agents controlling them, watching them, controlling their thoughts and telling them what to do," Cavus explained.

Schizophrenia affects an average of one in a hundred people worldwide. Scientists have recently discovered that they may be able to help explain the brain processes responsible for these debilitating mental illnesses.

“We know very little about how the brain perceives the body,” Cabus said. “It’s interesting how these processes can be disrupted.”