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A sensorimotor network for the bodily self.

Francesca Ferri¹, Francesca Frassinetti, Martina Ardizzi

¹University of Parma, Italy. francesca.ferri@nemo.unipr.it

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

|March 29, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Bodily motor experience shapes self-consciousness. This study found sensorimotor brain areas represent the bodily self, with one's own hand activating specific motor regions, differentiating self from others.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Philosophy of Mind

Background:

The constitution of self-consciousness has long been debated, with current research focusing on agency and ownership.
A recent hypothesis suggests bodily motor experience, including the sense of one's body enabling actions, contributes to the bodily self.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if bodily motor experience, specifically mental rotation of one's own hand versus a stranger's, influences sensorimotor area activation.
To identify neural correlates of the bodily self rooted in sensorimotor representations.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain activity.
Participants performed a hand laterality judgment task involving mental rotation of images.
Stimuli included images of the participant's own hand and a stranger's hand.

Main Results:

A neural network for the general bodily self was identified, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), pre-SMA, anterior insula, and bilateral occipital cortex.
Representation of one's own dominant hand was specifically localized to the left premotor cortex.
Distinct neural activation patterns were observed when mentally rotating one's own hand compared to a stranger's.

Conclusions:

The findings support the existence of a sensorimotor representation of the bodily self.
This sensorimotor bodily self may play a crucial role in distinguishing one's own body from that of others.
Bodily motor experience is integral to the sense of self.