The missing pieces in the scientific study of bodily awareness
Abstract
Research on bodily awareness has focused on body illusions with an aim to explore the possible dissociation of our bodily awareness from our own body. It has provided insights into how our sensory modalities shape our sense of embodiment, and it has raised important questions regarding the malleability of our sense of ownership over our own body. The issue, however, is that this research fails to consider an important distinction in how we experience our body. There are indeed two ways in which we can be aware of our body: via observational awareness, which involves attending to the body as an object, and via non-observational awareness, where the body is given as the subject of experience and does not involve attention. The research to date has focused on the former—observational bodily awareness—and has left the latter—non-observational bodily awareness—in the dark. This is detrimental to ever formulating a complete account of how we are aware of our body. It is understandable, however, because of the inherent problem in studying non-observational bodily awareness: how would you instruct subjects to report on their unattended bodily awareness? In view to resolving this problem, I propose here a working hypothesis on the basis of research on interoception and the rubber hand illusion, and on the effect of meditation on awareness and attention. This working hypothesis can show us a way to begin studying non-observational bodily awareness, and finally build a complete theory of bodily awareness.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
There are two modalities of body awareness: observational awareness (attending to the body as an object) and non-observational awareness (the body as subject of experience, without intentional attention).
“This implies two modalities of body awareness: observational awareness, which involves attending to the body as an object, and non-observational awareness, where the body is given as the subject of experience and does not involve intentional attention [23].”
From Interoceptive Ability and Emotion Regulation in Mind–Body Interventions: An Integrative Review (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
Phenomenological methods can help better understand how interoceptive ability shapes consciousness at both pre-reflective and attentional levels of embodied awareness.
“In this regard, phenomenological methods, which investigate how the subject makes sense of her own lived experience in the world, can help us to better understand how interoceptive ability shapes consciousness at both the pre-reflective and attentional level of embodied awareness, also known as observational and non-observational awareness [23].”
From Interoceptive Ability and Emotion Regulation in Mind–Body Interventions: An Integrative Review (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
Cites
Ambrose, A., Wittgenstein, L., & Anscombe, G. E. M. (1954) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.2307/2103745 · Cited by 12,289 · see citing works
Rubber hands ‘feel’ touch that eyes see
Botvinick, M., & Cohen, J. (1998) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35784 · Cited by 4,410 · see citing works
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203994610 · Cited by 4,277 · see citing works
The Integrative Action of the Nervous System.
Sherrington, C. (1907) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/00005053-190734120-00021 · Cited by 4,136 · see citing works
JAMES, W. (1884) · Mind · doi:10.1093/mind/os-ix.34.188 · Cited by 3,446 · see citing works
Gallagher, S. (2005) · doi:10.1093/0199271941.001.0001 · Cited by 3,311 · see citing works
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
D., C. P. (1979) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1421932 · Cited by 2,935 · see citing works
Mind in life: biology, phenomenology, and the sciences of mind
(2008) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.45-2543 · Cited by 2,696 · see citing works
Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation
Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2008) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.01.005 · Cited by 2,659 · see citing works
James, W. (2005) · Williams & Wilkins eBooks · doi:10.1037/10735-001 · Cited by 2,221 · see citing works
Knowing your own heart: Distinguishing interoceptive accuracy from interoceptive awareness
Garfinkel, S. N., Seth, A. K., Barrett, A. B., Suzuki, K., & Critchley, H. D. (2015) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.11.004 · Cited by 1,624 · see citing works
The multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness (MAIA)
Mehling, W. E., Price, C., Daubenmier, J. J., Acree, M., Bartmess, E., & Stewart, A. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048230 · Cited by 1,429 · see citing works
The rubber hand illusion revisited: visuotactile integration and self-attribution
Tsakiris, M., & Haggard, P. (2005) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.31.1.80 · Cited by 1,328 · see citing works
Video ergo sum: manipulating bodily self-consciousness
Lenggenhager, B., Tadi, T., Metzinger, T., & Blanke, O. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1143439 · Cited by 1,265 · see citing works
Multisensory brain mechanisms of bodily self-consciousness.
Blanke, O. (2012) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3292 · Cited by 1,147 · see citing works
Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology and neuroscience
Block, N. (2007) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x07002786 · Cited by 1,146 · see citing works
The experimental induction of out-of-body experiences
Ehrsson, H. H. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1142175 · Cited by 959 · see citing works
Subjectivity and selfhood: investigating the first-person perspective
(2006) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.44-0250 · Cited by 915 · see citing works
The Integrative Action of the Nervous System.
Freeman, F. N., & SHERRINGTON, S. C. (1907) · The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods · doi:10.2307/2010953 · Cited by 907 · see citing works
Self-reference and self-awareness
Shoemaker, S. S. (1968) · The Journal of Philosophy · doi:10.2307/2024121 · Cited by 642 · see citing works
Mindfulness meditation training alters cortical representations of interoceptive attention
Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., & Anderson, A. K. (2013) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nss066 · Cited by 566 · see citing works
Tsakiris, M., Jiménez, A. T., & Costantini, M. (2011) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2547 · Cited by 528 · see citing works
Suzuki, K., Garfinkel, S. N., Critchley, H. D., & Seth, A. K. (2013) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.08.014 · Cited by 476 · see citing works
Garfinkel, S. N., & Critchley, H. D. (2013) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nss140 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Manos Tsakiris, A., Carpenter, L., James, D., & Fotopoulou, A. (2009) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-009-2039-3 · Cited by 350 · see citing works
Spontaneous fluctuations in neural responses to heartbeats predict visual detection
Park, H.-D., Correia, S., Ducorps, A., & Tallon-Baudry, C. (2014) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.3671 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Bornemann, B., Herbert, B. M., Mehling, W. E., & Singer, T. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01504 · Cited by 349 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Very recently, there has been interesting research on meditation and interoception more particularly (Bornemann et al., 2015; Farb et al., 2013b; Khalsa et al., 2008; Melloni et al., 2013; Nielsen & Kaszniak, 2006).”
BackgroundHerbert, B. M., Muth, E. R., Pollatos, O., & Herbert, C. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036646 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Specifying the self for cognitive neuroscience
Christoff, K., Cosmelli, D., Legrand, D., & Thompson, E. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.01.001 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
Waking, dreaming, being: self and consciousness in neuroscience, meditation, and philosophy
(2015) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.189379 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Interoceptive awareness in experienced meditators
Khalsa, S. S., Rudrauf, D., Damasio, A. R., Davidson, R. J., Lutz, A., & Tranel, D. (2008) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00666.x · Cited by 280 · cited 4× · see citing works
“…this hypothesis, however, has generated varied results: some have shown meditators to be better at introspecting about their inner bodily states than non-meditators and others have shown meditators to be equivalent to non-meditators (Khalsa et al., 2008; Nielsen & Kaszniak, 2006; Sze et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialHandbook of Phenomenology and Cognitive Science
Schmicking, D. A., & Gallagher, S. (2009) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2646-0 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
The Bodily Self: The Sensori-Motor Roots of Pre-Reflective Self-Consciousness
Legrand, D. (2006) · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11097-005-9015-6 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
メチル化DNA結合タンパク質MBD2はグルココルチコイド受容体のNGFI-A(egr-1)媒介転写活性化を促進する
Ian, C., Castleden, I. R., Shelley, E. B., Stephen, D., Sergiy, D., Josie, D., Tie-Yuan, Z., Moshe Szyf, A., & Michael, J. M. (2014) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · Cited by 255 · see citing works
Attention: philosophical and psychological essays
(2012) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.49-2588 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
The neural subjective frame: from bodily signals to perceptual consciousness
Park, H.-D., & Tallon-Baudry, C. (2014) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0208 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Self-reference and self-awareness
Shoemaker, S. (2001) · Advances in consciousness research · doi:10.1075/aicr.30.08sha · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Attentional modulation of primary interoceptive and exteroceptive cortices.
Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., & Anderson, A. K. (2013) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr385 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Coherence between emotional experience and physiology: Does body awareness training have an impact?
Sze, J. A., Gyurak, A., Yuan, J. W., & Levenson, R. W. (2010) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0020146 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Guterstam, A., Gentile, G., & Ehrsson, H. H. (2013) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00393 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Awareness of subtle emotional feelings: a comparison of long-term meditators and nonmeditators
Nielsen, L., & Kaszniak, A. W. (2006) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.3.392 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Behavioral and Brain Functions at 15
Crusio, W. E. (2020) · Behavioral and Brain Functions · doi:10.1186/s12993-020-00170-w · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Phenomenological Approaches to Self-Consciousness
Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2005) · Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Meditation experience predicts introspective accuracy.
Fox, K. C. R., Zakarauskas, P., Dixon, M., Ellamil, M., Thompson, E., & Christoff, K. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045370 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Thompson, E. T. (2009) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822391388-005 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Brief body-scan meditation practice improves somatosensory perceptual decision making
Mirams, L., Poliakoff, E., Brown, R. J., & Lloyd, D. M. (2013) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2012.07.009 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Bodily self-awareness and object perception
Gallagher, S. (2007) · Theoria et Historia Scientiarum · doi:10.12775/ths.2003.004 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Schulz, A., Lass-Hennemann, J., Sütterlin, S., Schächinger, H., & Vögele, C. (2013) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.01.007 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Melloni, M., Sedeño, L., Couto, B., Reynoso, M., Gelormini, C., Favaloro, R., Canales-Johnson, A., Sigman, M., Manes, F., & Ibanez, A. (2013) · Behavioral and Brain Functions · doi:10.1186/1744-9081-9-47 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Pre-Reflective Self-Consciousness
Legrand, D. (2007) · Janus head · doi:10.5840/jh20069214 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Bodily Awareness: A Sense of Ownership
(1995) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/1640.003.0014 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Cameron, O. G., & Minoshima, S. (2002) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000038939.33335.32 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Multisensory disintegration and the disappearing hand trick
Newport, R., & Gilpin, H. R. (2011) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.08.044 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Proprioception and the Body Image
O'Shaughnessy, B. (2003) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/0199256721.003.0024 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Subjectivity and the body: Introducing basic forms of self-consciousness
Legrand, D. (2007) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.06.011 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Detection, discrimination and sensation of visceral stimuli
Hölzl, R., Erasmus, L.-P., & Möltner, A. (1996) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/0301-0511(95)05155-4 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Zahavi, D. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590681.003.0004 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Two senses for ‘givenness of consciousness’
Legrand, D. (2008) · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11097-008-9116-0 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 59 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Döllinger, N., Wienrich, C., & Latoschik, M. E. (2021) · Frontiers in Virtual Reality · doi:10.3389/frvir.2021.644683 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Interoceptive Ability and Emotion Regulation in Mind–Body Interventions: An Integrative Review
Lazzarelli, A., Scafuto, F., Crescentini, C., Matiz, A., Orrù, G., Ciacchini, R., Alfì, G., Gemignani, A., & Conversano, C. (2024) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs14111107 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Skrzypulec, B. (2021) · Philosophical Studies · doi:10.1007/s11098-021-01601-8 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Body-as-Subject in the Four-Hand Illusion
Liang, C., Lee, Y., Chen, W.-Y., & Huang, H.-C. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01710 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Is the sense of bodily ownership related to pre-reflective bodily awareness? A reply to Kuhle
Gadsby, S. (2018) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2018.1435860 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Perspectival content of visual experiences
Skrzypulec, B. (2023) · Inquiry · doi:10.1080/0020174x.2023.2212018
- Authors
- Kühle, L.
- Affiliations
- Illinois State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kühle, Lana
- Venue
- Philosophical Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-05-04
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 571-593
- ISSN
- 0951-5089 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-394X
- OpenAlex
- W2611525614
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 0.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Philosophical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Keywords
- body awareness, body illusions, embodiment, body ownership, interoception, rubber hand illusion, meditation, attention
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
