title: Multisensory mechanisms in temporo-parietal cortex support self-location and first-person perspective.
abstract: Self-consciousness has mostly been approached by philosophical enquiry and not by empirical neuroscientific study, leading to an overabundance of diverging theories and an absence of data-driven theories. Using robotic technology, we achieved specific bodily conflicts and induced predictable changes in a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness by altering where healthy subjects experienced themselves to be (self-location). Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) activity reflected experimental changes in self-location that also depended on the first-person perspective due to visuo-tactile and visuo-vestibular conflicts. Moreover, in a large lesion analysis study of neurological patients with a well-defined state of abnormal self-location, brain damage was also localized at TPJ, providing causal evidence that TPJ encodes self-location. Our findings reveal that multisensory integration at the TPJ reflects one of the most fundamental subjective feelings of humans: the feeling of being an entity localized at a position in space and perceiving the world from this position and perspective.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ionta
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heydrich
authors.forename: Bigna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lenggenhager
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mouthon
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fornari
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chapuis
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gassert
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Blanke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001828:Body Image; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012371:Robotics; D012649:Self Concept; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen