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Science 24 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5841, pp. 1096 - 1099
DOI: 10.1126/science.1143439
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Reports

Video Ergo Sum: Manipulating Bodily Self-Consciousness

Bigna Lenggenhager,1 Tej Tadi,1 Thomas Metzinger,2,3 Olaf Blanke1,4*

Humans normally experience the conscious self as localized within their bodily borders. This spatial unity may break down in certain neurological conditions such as out-of-body experiences, leading to a striking disturbance of bodily self-consciousness. On the basis of these clinical data, we designed an experiment that uses conflicting visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality to disrupt the spatial unity between the self and the body. We found that during multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front of them was their own body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a position outside their bodily borders. Our results indicate that spatial unity and bodily self-consciousness can be studied experimentally and are based on multisensory and cognitive processing of bodily information.

1 Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Station 15, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
2 Philosophical Seminar, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
3 Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
4 Department of Neurology, University Hospital, 1214 Geneva, Switzerland.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: olaf.blanke{at}epfl.ch

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E-Letters:

Read all E-Letters

How Does the Brain Localize the Self ?
Kaspar Meyer
Science Online, 19 Jun 2008 [Full text]
H. H. Ehrsson and V. Petkova's Response to Kaspar Meyer's E-Letter
H. Henrik Ehrsson, et al.
Science Online, 19 Jun 2008 [Full text]
Olaf Blanke et al.’s Response to Kaspar Meyer's E-Letter
Olaf Blanke, et al.
Science Online, 20 Jun 2008 [Full text]

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