Cited by 259Virtual Reality Applications and ImpactsFree Will and AgencyEmbodied and Extended Cognition

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 147 of the 150 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 128 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Bodily ownership and self-location: Components of bodily self-consciousness

Open access
Serino, Andrea, Alsmith, Adrian, Costantini, Marcello, Mandrigin, Alisa, Tajadura-Jimenez, Ana, Lopez, Christophe·2013·Consciousness and Cognition

Abstract

Recent research on bodily self-consciousness has assumed that it consists of three distinct components: the experience of owning a body (body ownership); the experience of being a body with a given location within the environment (self-location); and the experience of taking a first-person, body-centered, perspective on that environment (perspective). Here we review recent neuroimaging studies suggesting that at least two of these components-body ownership and self-location-are implemented in rather distinct neural substrates, located, respectively, in the premotor cortex and in the temporo-parietal junction. We examine these results and consider them in relation to clinical evidence from patients with altered body perception and work on a variety of multisensory, body-related illusions, such as the rubber hand illusion, the full body illusion, the body swap illusion and the enfacement illusion. We conclude by providing a preliminary synthesis of the data on bodily self-consciousness and its neural correlates.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This review argues that bodily self-consciousness comprises at least two dissociable components—body ownership and self-location—with distinct neural correlates in ventral premotor/posterior parietal cortex and temporo-parietal junction, respectively. It synthesizes fMRI, clinical, and multisensory illusion evidence into a preliminary distributed model, while noting the model is not exhaustive and experimental double dissociation remains incomplete.

Key findings

  • Body ownership and self-location can be experimentally dissociated in one direction: the body swap illusion (Petkova et al., 2011) induced ownership for a mannequin without changing self-location, whereas the full body illusion (Ionta et al., 2011) altered self-location but also changed ownership, so only a single dissociation was experimentally demonstrated.
  • Neural correlates differed: Petkova et al. found vPMc and PPc activity during synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, with vPMc activity correlated with illusory ownership; Ionta et al. found TPJ activity modulated by synchronous touch and varying with experienced self-location and visuo-spatial perspective, with no specific vPMc or PPc activation reported.
  • Clinical and rubber-hand-illusion evidence supports a double dissociation: out-of-body experiences and heautoscopy can show preserved self-identification/ownership with disturbed self-location; Rohde et al. dissociated proprioceptive drift from ownership ratings, and Longo et al.’s principal component analysis found ownership and location to be independent components. Blackmore (1984) found 24% of subjects reporting OBEs claimed a connection between their disembodied self and the seen body.
  • The paper focuses on the weaker claim that at least two components are distinct, and suggests the stronger three-component claim is false because perspective is not wholly distinct from self-location. It proposes a distributed model: unisensory body signals in SI/EBA, multisensory integration in PPc/vPMc/insula, and visual-tactile-proprioceptive-vestibular convergence at the TPJ for self-location and perspective.

Methods

  • Narrative review, not a primary study. It compares two fMRI adaptations of multisensory body illusions: Ionta et al. (2011), using touch on the back with a third-person virtual body, and Petkova et al. (2011), using touch on the chest with a first-person mannequin.
  • Integrates evidence from neuroimaging, monkey electrophysiology, TMS, lesion and clinical cases (out-of-body experiences, heautoscopy, somatoparaphrenia), and illusions including the rubber hand illusion, full body illusion, body swap illusion, out-of-body illusion, and enfacement illusion.
  • Main analysis is qualitative synthesis and proposal of a distributed neural model; no systematic search or meta-analysis is described.

Limitations

  • Stated: the model is not exhaustive and neglects at least three aspects—the body in movement and agency, peripersonal space and tool use, and social interaction.
  • Stated: experimental evidence for a double dissociation is incomplete; a change in self-location without any change in body ownership has not yet been produced experimentally, and this is left as an open question.
  • Evident: as a narrative review, conclusions are based on selected studies and are preliminary/tentative; no new data or formal quantitative synthesis are provided.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.concog.2013.08.013

Cites

147 of 147 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

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Verification

Claims the paper makes

75 Not checked yet · 39 Own interpretation · 1 Own result · 1 No basis given

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  • It may state two separate claims as one. 39
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 14
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
49 of 49
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Bodily self-consciousness comprises at least three distinct components: body ownership, self-location, and perspective.

    “Our aim in the following discussion is to provide some degree of validation for a third assumption driving this research, namely that bodily self-consciousness comprises at least three distinct components: the experience of owning a body (body ownership); the experience of being a body with a given location within our environment (self-location); and the experience of taking a first-person, body-”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    There are at least two components of bodily self-consciousness that are distinct from one another, namely body ownership and self-location.

    “Our discussion will focus on a weaker form of the assumption: that there are at least two components of bodily self-consciousness that are distinct from one another, namely body ownership and self-location.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The behavioural effects of manipulating proprioceptive, interoceptive and exteroceptive signals can serve as implicit measures of phenomena described in explicit reports of subjective experience.

    “The first is that the behavioural effects of manipulating proprioceptive, interoceptive and exteroceptive signals can serve as implicit measures of phenomena described in explicit reports of subjective experience.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Global aspects of bodily self-consciousness can be studied by manipulating these sensory signals, despite the fact that their immediate processing is physiologically and computationally constrained to individual body parts.

    “The second is that global aspects of bodily self-consciousness (pertaining to the experience of the body as a whole) can be studied by manipulating these sensory signals, despite the fact that their immediate processing is physiologically and computationally constrained to individual body parts”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Body ownership and self-location are distinct components of bodily self-consciousness.

    “This cumulative evidence supports the (weaker) assumption that has driven research into bodily selfconsciousness-that body ownership and self-location are distinct components of the experience of oneself as a bodily subject.”
    “we have made a case in support of one of these assumptions: that body ownership and self-location are distinct components of bodily selfconsciousness.”
5 of 5

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Citations

Cites

Show all 150 references

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Blackmore, 1984, A postal survey of OBEs and other experiences, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 52, 225
  2. Makin, 2008, On the other hand: Dummy hands and peripersonal space, Behavioural Brain Research, 191, 1, 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.02.041 · DOI · Paper page

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Metadata

Authors
Serino, A., Alsmith, A., Costantini, M., Mandrigin, A., Tajadura-Jimenez, A., & Lopez, C.
Affiliations
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
  • University of Copenhagen (DK)
  • University of Chieti-Pescara (IT)
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
Corresponding author
Serino, Andrea
Venue
Consciousness and Cognition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2013-12
Volume
22
Issue
4
Pages
1239-1252
ISSN
1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2079829150
Cited by
259
References
150
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 9
FWCI
5.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Volkswagen Foundation
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K001477/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Free Will and Agency
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
Keywords
bodily self-consciousness, body ownership, self-localization, first-person perspective, premotor cortex, temporoparietal junction, multisensory illusions, rubber hand illusion, full-body illusion, enfacement illusion, neural correlates
MeSH terms
Body Image, Humans, Illusions, Motor Cortex, Parietal Lobe, Proprioception, Self Concept, Space Perception, Temporal Lobe

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