The sense of bodily self (BS) represents the implicit and pre-reflective level of self. BS consists of a unitary experience whose two main components are the sense of body ownership (the feeling that one’s own physical body-parts belong to me) and self-location (the experience that the self is situated in a specific sector of space surrounding the body, the peripersonal space). BS and its components are continuously assembled from correlated multisensory inputs about the body that therefore represents the dynamic mechanism from which the BS originates. A coherent BS is fundamental to properly interact with the environment and this is clearly evident in specific clinical populations characterized by a disruption of the BS, such as schizophrenia and trauma-related disorders, in which these processes have been most studied.
Although there has been a growing interest in the study of BS and its underlying mechanisms over the past 30 years, many questions are still unanswered. For instance, in the above-mentioned clinical populations, the BS alterations appear to be unspecific despite the phenotypic differences of these disorders. It is, therefore, necessary to combine different points of view that deal with BS at different levels, in order to provide a theoretical overview that can shed light on future experimental developments.
The present Research Topic aimed to better characterize I) the contribution of interoceptive and exteroceptive signals in the definition of the bodily self; II) the neural mechanisms behind two main components of the bodily self: body ownership and peripersonal space; and III) the alterations of the bodily self and its components in specific clinical populations and psychopathological conditions, such as schizophrenia and trauma-related disorders as well as at-risk populations. As such, our Research Topic will provide a state-of-the-art overview of the current investigations and topics on the sense of bodily self.
This Research Topic starts from the collection of the most recent investigations on clinical or subclinical populations (at-risk populations) to encourage the investigation of the basic mechanisms of these processes and promote a theoretical formulation that can arrange the different voices in this field of investigation. This Article Collection will therefore combine interdisciplinary findings from experimental and clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience to give a complete picture of the current state of the art in this field.
We welcomed submissions on the topic in healthy and pathological conditions, from behavioral, neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and philosophical points of view, as well as more recent technology-oriented research on the topic of the bodily self.
The main topic that we would like contributors to address are the following:
• multisensory integration as the scaffold for higher-level cognitive processes that contribute to define the bodily self
• the contribution of interoceptive/exteroceptive stimuli in the definition of the bodily self
• body ownership as one of the main components of the bodily self, investigated in healthy and pathological conditions
• peripersonal space as one of the main components of the bodily self, in particular, studies focused on the representation and plasticity of peripersonal space are welcomed
• the damaged bodily self in clinical populations such as schizophrenia and trauma-related disorders, in which this topic has been most investigated. They are also welcomed studies conducted on at-risk populations or healthy participants lying on a continuum from mental health to psychiatric disorders.
The sense of bodily self (BS) represents the implicit and pre-reflective level of self. BS consists of a unitary experience whose two main components are the sense of body ownership (the feeling that one’s own physical body-parts belong to me) and self-location (the experience that the self is situated in a specific sector of space surrounding the body, the peripersonal space). BS and its components are continuously assembled from correlated multisensory inputs about the body that therefore represents the dynamic mechanism from which the BS originates. A coherent BS is fundamental to properly interact with the environment and this is clearly evident in specific clinical populations characterized by a disruption of the BS, such as schizophrenia and trauma-related disorders, in which these processes have been most studied.
Although there has been a growing interest in the study of BS and its underlying mechanisms over the past 30 years, many questions are still unanswered. For instance, in the above-mentioned clinical populations, the BS alterations appear to be unspecific despite the phenotypic differences of these disorders. It is, therefore, necessary to combine different points of view that deal with BS at different levels, in order to provide a theoretical overview that can shed light on future experimental developments.
The present Research Topic aimed to better characterize I) the contribution of interoceptive and exteroceptive signals in the definition of the bodily self; II) the neural mechanisms behind two main components of the bodily self: body ownership and peripersonal space; and III) the alterations of the bodily self and its components in specific clinical populations and psychopathological conditions, such as schizophrenia and trauma-related disorders as well as at-risk populations. As such, our Research Topic will provide a state-of-the-art overview of the current investigations and topics on the sense of bodily self.
This Research Topic starts from the collection of the most recent investigations on clinical or subclinical populations (at-risk populations) to encourage the investigation of the basic mechanisms of these processes and promote a theoretical formulation that can arrange the different voices in this field of investigation. This Article Collection will therefore combine interdisciplinary findings from experimental and clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience to give a complete picture of the current state of the art in this field.
We welcomed submissions on the topic in healthy and pathological conditions, from behavioral, neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and philosophical points of view, as well as more recent technology-oriented research on the topic of the bodily self.
The main topic that we would like contributors to address are the following:
• multisensory integration as the scaffold for higher-level cognitive processes that contribute to define the bodily self
• the contribution of interoceptive/exteroceptive stimuli in the definition of the bodily self
• body ownership as one of the main components of the bodily self, investigated in healthy and pathological conditions
• peripersonal space as one of the main components of the bodily self, in particular, studies focused on the representation and plasticity of peripersonal space are welcomed
• the damaged bodily self in clinical populations such as schizophrenia and trauma-related disorders, in which this topic has been most investigated. They are also welcomed studies conducted on at-risk populations or healthy participants lying on a continuum from mental health to psychiatric disorders.
