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O Blanke

2 papers in the library · publishing 2006-2008

Papers

Body ownership and embodiment: vestibular and multisensory mechanisms.

Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology June 1, 2008 C Lopez, P Halje, O Blanke

Body ownership and embodiment are fundamental to self-consciousness. This review examines neurological conditions—autoscopic phenomena (out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, autoscopic hallucination, feeling-of-a-presence) and the room tilt illusion—where these mechanisms are differentially affected. These conditions arise from failures to integrate body-related information (vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile cues) and a mismatch between vestibular and visual references. Pathological activity at the temporoparietal junction and other vestibular-related areas underlies altered body ownership and embodiment. In healthy subjects, weightlessness and caloric or galvanic vestibular stimulation can disrupt self-processing by interfering with vestibular cortex, leading to disintegration of bodily information. The authors propose that different vestibular cortical areas contribute differentially to these altered states.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neucli.2007.12.006 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab)

Functional and neural mechanisms of embodiment: importance of the vestibular system and the temporal parietal junction.

Reviews in the Neurosciences January 1, 2006 B Lenggenhager, S T Smith, O Blanke

The sense of being located inside one's own body—embodiment—depends on distinct brain mechanisms. A review of clinical and neuroimaging studies on multisensory perception, integration, and mental imagery highlights the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) as a key region for coding embodiment. Vestibular mechanisms are especially relevant, and experimental methods that disrupt normal embodiment point to the TPJ's role. The authors conclude that multisensory and vestibular coding at the TPJ enables the experience of being embodied and spatially situated. Pathologies involving a disembodied self, such as out-of-body experiences, likely result from deficient multisensory integration at the TPJ.

DOI: 10.1515/revneuro.2006.17.6.643 (opens in new tab) Full text (opens in new tab)