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Updated: Jun 15, 2026
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Decoding Natural Behavior from Neuroethological Embedding
Published on: October 3, 2025
Specificity and coherence of body representations
Marjolein P M Kammers1, Matthew R Longo, Manos Tsakiris
1Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 Utrecht, The Netherlands. m.kammers@ucl.ac.uk
Perception
|March 3, 2010
Summary
Bodily illusions impact body perception and action differently. The sense of agency influences how we perceive our body versus how we use it for actions, revealing distinct embodiment dimensions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Embodiment Studies
Background:
- Bodily illusions, like the rubber hand illusion (RHI), alter our sense of body ownership.
- It remains unclear if these illusions affect distinct aspects of body representation for perception versus action.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if task dependence in bodily illusions reflects separate dimensions of embodiment: sense of agency and body coherence.
- To differentiate how illusions affect body representations for perception and action.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1 used a video RHI (vRHI) manipulating active vs. passive movements to assess agency effects on perceptual judgments and active pointing accuracy.
- Experiment 2 used the traditional RHI with synchronous/mismatching tactile stimulation to examine body representation coherence.
Main Results:
- The vRHI primarily affected perceptual localization, not active pointing accuracy, indicating a perceptual bias.
- Passive vRHI induction led to larger perceptual biases, while active induction showed a trend towards larger pointing biases.
- Synchronous tactile stimulation induced local proprioceptive bias but did not alter the overall hand shape perception; mismatching stimulation disrupted the RHI.
Conclusions:
- Sense of agency during illusion induction specifically impacts body representations for perception versus action.
- Body part representations can be altered independently of the perception of the body's overall spatial configuration.
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