Predicting the bodily self in space and time

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 14813 - 13
• Main Authors: de Boer, D. M. L., Johnston, P. J., Namdar, F., Kerr, G., Cleeremans, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.06.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/378/2645/2647; 631/378/2649/1398; 631/378/2649/2150; 631/477/2811; Adult; Bodily self-consciousness; Body Image - psychology; Embodied gaming; Female; Full-body illusion (FBI); Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Illusions - physiology; Male; Mental disorders; Motion control; Motor task performance; Movement - physiology; multidisciplinary; Neurodegeneration; Neurology; Prospective agency; Psychosis; Rehabilitation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Self Concept; Self-location; Social cognition; Virtual Reality; Young Adult; Self-location; Full-body illusion (FBI); Embodied gaming; Bodily self-consciousness; Prospective agency; Virtual reality (VR); Social cognition
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-65607-y

To understand how the human brain distinguishes itself from external stimulation, it was examined if motor predictions enable healthy adult volunteers to infer self-location and to distinguish their body from the environment (and other agents). By uniquely combining a VR-setup with full-body motion capture, a full-body illusion paradigm (FBI) was developed with different levels of motion control: (A) a standard, passive FBI in which they had no motion control; (B) an active FBI in which they made simple, voluntary movements; and (C) an immersive game in which they real-time controlled a human-sized avatar in third person. Systematic comparisons between measures revealed a causal relationship between (i) motion control (prospective agency), (ii) self-other identification, and (iii) the ability to locate oneself. Healthy adults could recognise their movements in a third-person avatar and psychologically align with it (action observation); but did not lose a sense of place (self-location), time (temporal binding), nor who they are (self/other). Instead, motor predictions enabled them to localise their body and to distinguish self from other. In the future, embodied games could target and strengthen the brain’s control networks in psychosis and neurodegeneration; real-time motion simulations could help advance neurorehabilitation techniques by fine-tuning and personalising therapeutic settings.