scholarly journals Visual self-motion feedback affects the sense of self in virtual reality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrieann Schettler ◽  
Ian Holstead ◽  
John Turri ◽  
Michael Barnett-Cowan

AbstractWe assessed how self-motion affects the visual representation of the self. We constructed a novel virtual reality experiment that systematically varied an avatar’s motion and also biological sex. Participants were presented with pairs of avatars that visually represented the participant (“self avatar”), or another person (“opposite avatar”). Avatar motion either corresponded with the participant’s motion, or was decoupled from the participant’s motion. The results show that participants identified with i) “self avatars” over “opposite avatars”, ii) avatars moving congruently with self-motion over incongruent motion, and importantly iii) identification with the “opposite avatar” over the “self avatar” when the opposite avatar’s motion was congruent with self-motion. Our results suggest that both self-motion and biological sex are relevant to the body schema and body image and that congruent bottom-up visual feedback of self-motion is particularly important for the sense of self and capable of overriding top-down self-identification factors such as biological sex.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Aubrieann Schettler ◽  
Ian Holstead ◽  
John Turri ◽  
Michael Barnett-Cowan

Abstract We assessed how self-motion affects the visual representation of the self. We constructed a novel virtual-reality experiment that systematically varied an avatar’s motion and also biological sex. Participants were presented with pairs of avatars that visually represented the participant (‘self-avatar’), or another person (‘opposite avatar’). Avatar motion either corresponded with the participant’s motion, or was decoupled from the participant’s motion. The results show that participants identified with (i) ‘self-avatars’ over ‘opposite-avatars’, (ii) avatars moving congruently with self-motion over incongruent motion, and importantly (iii) with the ‘opposite avatar’ over the ‘self-avatar’ when the opposite avatar’s motion was congruent with self-motion. Our results suggest that both self-motion and biological sex are relevant to the body schema and body image and that congruent bottom-up visual feedback of self-motion is particularly important for the sense of self and capable of overriding top-down self-identification factors such as biological sex.


2021 ◽  
pp. 229-243
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cole

In neurological illnesses, the body may present itself to perception in ways which allows insights into the concepts of body image and body schema. Three such conditions are explored. From those who live with spinal cord injury, paralysed and insentient from the neck down, aspects of the importance of the body in one’s sense of self are revealed. Some also describe a coming to terms with their altered bodies. When considering the body image, its adaptability and this reconciliation to a new normal should be considered. Studies on acquired severe sensory loss explore how conscious control, at the body image level, may partially replace the deafferented body schema. There is little evidence, however, for these subjects extending access to previously non-conscious motor schema. Lastly, some narratives from those with congenital absence of movement of facial muscles describe reduced emotional experience and felt embodiment as children. These can be developed as young adults, through shared social interactions. The importance of the social in elaboration of the body image is further implicit in a consideration of the stigma associated with facial disfigurement. Others’ responses to one’s body are crucial in developing our body image and sense of self.


1960 ◽  
Vol 106 (442) ◽  
pp. 17-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Weckowicz ◽  
R. Sommer

Disturbances of ego, self-concept and body-image have always been regarded as central in the psychopathology of schizophrenia. The passivity phenomena, automatisme superieur of the French authors, are indeed very common in this disease. There is a disturbance of the self which is shown in depersonalization and in feelings of influence and passivity. The boundaries of the self become loose or blurred and the patient may feel, for example, that parts of his body do not belong to him or that he is part of the plants, animals, clouds, other people or of the whole world and that they are part of him. He may feel at one with the whole of mankind. Self-concept is closely related to what has been termed “body image” or “perceived body”. Head (29, 30) has shown that what he called “body schema” is very important for motor co-ordination and performance of purposeful movements and also for orientation in space. Schilder (53) in his monograph has analysed the problem of body-image in great detail. He has found in the idea of the body image the basis for the body or physical ego. He follows Head in stating that the body image consists of the proprioceptions of the whole body and that it changes with the body's varying postures. Yet neither Head's body schema nor Schilder's body image are identical with the body ego. The body schema represents the constant mental knowledge of one's body; the body image is the changing presentation of the body in one's mind. Throughout the changes of the body image there is an awareness of continuity of one's body, a sense of basic identity and oneness. This constitutes the bodily or physical ego. The body ego in its turn is the basis of a wider “self” which can be called self-concept or selfhood. This self-concept or selfhood contains, in addition to the awareness of the continuity and the identity of one's own body in spite of its constant change, the awareness of the continuity of one's self as a person in spite of constantly changing relationship with the external world, and in spite of the playing and taking different “roles” in social interactions. According to Mead (38) and Coutu (16), selfhood is a social phenomenon and emerges only through interaction with other people, through “taking their roles” and viewing oneself from their point of view.


Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5853 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pavani ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini

When a hand (either real or fake) is stimulated in synchrony with our own hand concealed from view, the felt position of our own hand can be biased toward the location of the seen hand. This intriguing phenomenon relies on the brain's ability to detect statistical correlations in the multisensory inputs (ie visual, tactile, and proprioceptive), but it is also modulated by the pre-existing representation of one's own body. Nonetheless, researchers appear to have accepted the assumption that the size of the seen hand does not matter for this illusion to occur. Here we used a real-time video image of the participant's own hand to elicit the illusion, but we varied the hand size in the video image so that the seen hand was either reduced, veridical, or enlarged in comparison to the participant's own hand. The results showed that visible-hand size modulated the illusion, which was present for veridical and enlarged images of the hand, but absent when the visible hand was reduced. These findings indicate that very specific aspects of our own body image (ie hand size) can constrain the multisensory modulation of the body schema highlighted by the fake-hand illusion paradigm. In addition, they suggest an asymmetric tendency to acknowledge enlarged (but not reduced) images of body parts within our body representation.


Body schema refers to the system of sensory-motor functions that enables control of the position of body parts in space, without conscious awareness of those parts. Body image refers to a conscious representation of the way the body appears—a set of conscious perceptions, affective attitudes, and beliefs pertaining to one’s own bodily image. In 2005, Shaun Gallagher published an influential book entitled ‘How the Body Shapes the Mind’. This book not only defined both body schema (BS) and body image (BI), but also explored the complicated relationship between the two. The book also established the idea that there is a double dissociation, whereby body schema and body image refer to two different, but closely related, systems. Given that many kinds of pathological cases can be described in terms of body schema and body image (phantom limbs, asomatognosia, apraxia, schizophrenia, anorexia, depersonalization, and body dysmorphic disorder, among others), we might expect to find a growing consensus about these concepts and the relevant neural activities connected to these systems. Instead, an examination of the scientific literature reveals continued ambiguity and disagreement. This volume brings together leading experts from the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry in a lively and productive dialogue. It explores fundamental questions about the relationship between body schema and body image, and addresses ongoing debates about the role of the brain and the role of social and cultural factors in our understanding of embodiment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-195
Author(s):  
A.G. Faustova ◽  
I.S. Vinogradova

Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures used in various oncological diseases are often accompanied by the unwanted and uncontrolled appearance defects. The presence of an acquired visible difference is a significant source of stress, which is often ignored. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between self-attitude and body image satisfaction in women with alopecia undergoing chemotherapy for cancer of the reproductive system. The study involved 20 women (mean age 52,15 years) without alopecia who start a course of chemotherapy treatment, and 20 women (mean age 51,55 years) with alopecia provoked by 10-40 courses of chemotherapy. An empirical study was conducted at the Ryazan Regional Clinical Oncology Center. Respondents were asked to fill out the Scale for assessing the level of satisfaction with the own body (O.A. Skugarevsky), the Self-Attitude Questionnaire (S.R. Pantileev), and to perform the projective technique “Human Figure Drawing” (K. Machover, F. Goodenough). Based on the obtained empirical data, specific regression models were revealed for each sample, demonstrating the dependence of self-attitude on the self-assessment of various components of the body image. In the experimental group of patients without alopecia, an adaptive level of self-acceptance is underlied by the high self-esteem of the external appearance of the chest (p=0,028), ears (p=0,039), and hair (p=0,017). Self-attachment among respondents in this group is determined by self-esteem of the abdomen (p=0,037). In the experimental group of patients with alopecia, other components of self-attitude were the most significant. The level of self-accusation is determined by the self-esteem of the pelvic region (p=0,048), ears (p=0,043), and hair (p=0,047). The reflected Self-attitude is determined to self-esteem of the chest (p=0,029), back (p=0,032), and arms (p=0,027). The patterns revealed in each sample are confirmed by the results of the projective technique “Human Figure Drawing”. Women with cancer of the reproductive organs, both before and after chemotherapy, mainly pay attention to those components of the body image that are associated with femininity and physical attractiveness, as well as those that undergo severe changes in the process of radical treatment.


2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 349-355
Author(s):  
Ognyan I. Kolev

Purpose: To further investigate the direction of (I) nystagmus and (II) self-motion perception induced by two stimuli: (a) caloric vestibular stimulations and (b) a sudden halt during vertical axis rotation. Subjects and methods: Twelve normal humans received caloric stimulation at 44°C, 30°C, and 20°C while in a supine position with the head inclined 30° upwards. In a second test they were rotated around the vertical axis with the head randomly placed in two positions: tilted 30° forward or tilted 60° backward, at a constant velocity of 90°/sec for 2 minutes and then suddenly stopped. After both tests they were asked to describe their sensations of self-motion. Eye movements were recorded with an infrared video-technique. Results: Caloric stimulation evoked only horizontal nystagmus in all subjects and induced a non-uniform complex perception of angular in frontal and transverse planes (the former dominated) and linear movements along the antero-posterior axis (sinking dominated) of the subject's coordinates. The self-motion was felt with the whole body or with a part of the body. Generally the perception evoked by cold (30°C) and warm (44°C) calorics was similar, although there were some differences. The stronger stimulus (20°C) evoked not only quantitative but also qualitative differences in perception. The abrupt halt of rotation induced self-motion perception and nystagmus only in the plane of rotation. The self-motion was felt with the whole body. Conclusion: There was no difference in the nystagmus evoked by caloric stimulation and a sudden halt of vertical axis rotation (in head positions to stimulate the horizontal canals); however, the two stimuli evoked different perceptions of self-motion. Calorics provoked the sensation of self-rotation in the frontal plane and linear motion, which did not correspond to the direction of nystagmus, as well as arcing and a reset phenomenon during angular and linear self-motion, caloric-induced self-motion can be felt predominantly or only with a part of the body, depending on the self-motion intensity. The findings indicate that, unlike the self-motion induced by sudden halt of vertical axis rotation, several mechanisms take part in generating caloric-induced self-motion.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Arman Hj Ahmad ◽  
Izian Idris ◽  
Regina Moy Li Jing

Introduction: With the rise and fall of many communication platforms embedded into our everyday lives and the on-going maturity of the digitalization era, social media usage has tremendously increased over the past decade. The purpose of this research is to identify to what extent self-esteem and the influence of friends’ impact children's perception of their body image through social media and how powerful social media in influencing the body image of children.Methodology: The theoretical implication of this study is to expand the usage of Signalling theory, Sociocultural theory and Social Comparison theory towards better explaining children’s behaviours and the factors that impact children view of their body image. 282 children were recruited using the snowball sampling technique and data collected were analysed using Smart-PLS to see the impacts and relationship between all variables.Results: This study found that the self-esteem and friends do impacts body comparison on social media. However, the self-esteem is negatively correlated. The study also identified that there is a significance direct relationship between the direct impacts of self-esteem and friends towards the body image. On the other hand, the social media is found to have no direct impact on body image.Conclusion/- and Recommendations: This study provides a better insight for the government on the importance of regulation of advertisements particularly via social media and for the society at large to create a more socially supportive environment for adolescents to communicate and help them grow their mind-set on the acceptable and realistic standards of beauty as well as contributes to the existing knowledge on the role of social media and adds knowledge to how powerful social media in giving impacts to body image among adolescences.


Author(s):  
José Luis Bermúdez

How can we be aware of ourselves both as physical objects and as thinking, experiencing subjects? What role does the experience of the body play in generating our sense of self? What is the role of action and agency in the construction of the bodily self? These questions have been a rich subject of interdisciplinary debate among philosophers, neuroscientists, experimental psychologists, and cognitive scientists for several decades. José Luis Bermúdez been a significant contributor to these debates since the 1990’s, when he authored The Paradox of Self-Consciousness (MIT Press, 1998) and co-edited The Body and the Self (MIT Press, 1995) with Anthony Marcel and Naomi Eilan. The Bodily Self is a selection of essays all focused on different aspects of the role of the body in self-consciousness, prefaced by a substantial introduction outlining common themes across the essays. The essays have been published in a wide range of journals and edited volumes. Putting them together brings out a wide-ranging, thematically consistent perspective on a set of topics and problems that remain firmly of interest across the cognitive and behavioral sciences.


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