Amputees who wish to rid themselves of a phantom limb must weaken the neural representation of the absent limb. Conversely, amputees who wish to replace a lost limb must assimilate a neuroprosthetic with the existing neural representation. Whether we wish to remove a phantom limb or assimilate a synthetic one, we will benefit from knowing more about the developmental process that enables embodiment. A potentially critical contributor to that process is the spontaneous activity - in the form of limb twitches - that occurs exclusively and abundantly during active (REM) sleep, a particularly prominent state in early development. The sensorimotor circuits activated by twitching limbs, and the developmental context in which activation occurs, could provide a roadmap for creating neuroprosthetics that feel as if they are part of the body.

中文翻译：

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幻肢、神经假肢和具身化的发展起源

希望摆脱幻肢的截肢者必须削弱缺失肢体的神经表征。相反，希望替换失去肢体的截肢者必须将神经假体与现有的神经表征同化。无论我们是希望移除幻肢还是吸收合成的幻肢，我们都将从更多地了解实现具身化的发展过程中受益。该过程的一个潜在关键因素是自发活动 - 以肢体抽搐的形式 - 在主动 (REM) 睡眠期间专门且大量发生，这是早期发育中特别突出的状态。由四肢抽动激活的感觉运动回路，以及激活发生的发育环境，可以为创建神经假肢提供路线图，感觉就像它们是身体的一部分。