The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

by Steven Novella

There is also a module in the brain called the ownership module. This module is part of a circuit that includes somatic information and also emotional processing. Essentially you feel as if your arm is your arm—it belongs to your body and is part of you. Related to this are circuits that make you feel as if you control the various parts of your body. These circuits compare information about your intention to move to visual and feeling sensation about your actual movements. When your movements match your intentions, your brain creates the sensation that you control your body. If this circuit is interrupted, however, the result is something called alien hand syndrome.