Dr Kirsten McKenzie, an Assistant Professor from the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, has been awarded a grant worth RM120,000 from Malaysia’s Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to investigate somatosensory disorders and bodily misperceptions.
This grant will fund research looking at how people make mistakes when interpreting bodily sensations like pressure, touch or pain, and the areas of the brain involved in processing these sensations.
Dr McKenzie explains: “When we feel a sensation, such as pain, we assume it is caused by something happening to or within out body, but - there are many clinical cases in which an individual’s somatic experience is found to be a misrepresentation of bodily events, such as in the case of the “phantom limbs” of people who have had amputations, or people with somatic disorders.
It seems that what we experience as ‘touch’ is not only shaped by events in the body, but also by what we see and hear, as well as things like memory and attention. Most of the time our misperceptions are not a problem, and we are not aware that they have happened, but they can become problematic if, for example, we interpret normal bodily sensations as discomfort or pain.”
Mistakes or misperceptions of bodily events are often associated with what are called Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS); situations in which patients experience what feels like very real pain or disability, but has no physical cause, and it has been suggested that MUS may account for up to a third of all visits to health-care providers.
In this situation, it seems that there may be something wrong with the way the brain interprets information coming from the senses, but as yet very little is known about the processes underlying the development and maintenance of these misperceptions.
This new study, begun in April, will use several new techniques, including the MIRAGE virtual-reality system, which enables people to see real-time video images of their own hands and watch them being “physically distorted”, such as having fingers stretched, shrunk or even removed – without anything actually happening. These will be used in conjunction with Electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate when and how these illusory sensations are interpreted in the brain.
The point at which these misperceptions arise in the brain is of great interest to this new research.
“We are particularly interested in the time-course of these illusions. Whether these illusory sensations are generated at an early sensory processing stage, or at a later decision making stage will have a great influence upon both the understanding of sensory processing, and possible treatment options for MUS and somatosensory disorders,” Dr McKenzie adds.
More information is available from Dr Kirsten McKenzie at kirsten.mckenzie@nottingham.edu.my
About the School of Psychology
The School of Psychology opened at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus in September 2009.
Our highly-qualified staff conduct internationally notable research against the backdrop of a Nobel Prize winning research environment. Current projects within the school range from neuroimaging investigations of sensory integration and working memory, to monitoring of eye movements during driving and in captive-bred orangutans, and face processing in individuals with developmental disorders.
Those who study with us are taught by field-leading experts and will have a diverse range of career choices.
The School offers two undergraduate degrees: BSc (Hons) Psychology & BSc (Hons) Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, as well as both MPhil and PhD graduate degrees. Applications are now being accepted for the September 2012 intake.
For more information, please consult www.nottingham.edu.my or email: enquiries@nottingham.edu.my (local students) international.enquiries@nottingham.edu.my (International students)
Notes to editors:
The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘Europe’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, a league table of the world’s most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions, which ranked Nottingham second in the world overall.
The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia. Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fund-raising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. For more details, visit: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/impactcampaign.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnightanalysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power. The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.
Follow us on Twitter @UoNMalaysia or find us on Facebook.
Posted on 21st May 2012