Self-Identification With Another's Body Alters Self-Other Face Distinction

When looking into a mirror healthy humans usually clearly perceive their own face. Such an unambiguous face self-perception indicates that an individual has a discrete facial self- representation and thereby the involvement of a self-other face distinction mechanism. We have stroked the trunk of healthy individuals while they watched the trunk of a virtual human that was facing them being synchronously stroked. Subjects sensed self-identification with the virtual body, which was accompanied by a decrease of their self-other face distinction. This suggests that face self-perception involves the self-other face distinction and that this mechanism is underlying the formation of a discrete representation of one's face. Moreover, the self-identification with another's body that we find suggests that the perception of one's full body affects the self-other face distinction. Hence, changes in self-other face distinction can indicate alterations of body self-perception, and thereby serve to elucidate the relationship of face and body self-perception.