title: Not That Heart-Stopping After All: Visuo-Cardiac Synchrony Does Not Boost Self-Face Attribution.
abstract: Recent experimental evidence and theoretical models suggest that an integration of exteroceptive and interoceptive signals underlies several key aspects of the bodily self. While it has been shown that self-attribution of both the hand and the full-body are altered by conflicting extero-exteroceptive (e.g. visuo-tactile) and extero-interoceptive (e.g. visuo-cardiac) information, no study has thus far investigated whether self-attribution of the face might be altered by visuo-cardiac stimulation similarly to visuo-tactile stimulation. In three independent groups of participants we presented ambiguous (i.e. morphed with a stranger's face) self-faces flashing synchronously or asynchronously with the participants' heartbeat. We then measured the subjective percentages of self-face attribution of morphed stimuli. To control for a potential effect of visuo-cardiac synchrony on familiarity, a task assessing the attribution of a familiar face was introduced. Moreover, different durations of visuo-cardiac flashing and different degrees of asynchronicity were used. Based on previous studies showing that synchronous visuo-cardiac stimulation generally increases self-attribution of the full-body and the hand, and that synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation increases self-face attribution, we predicted higher self-face attribution during the synchronous visuo-cardiac flashing of the morphed stimuli. In contrast to this hypothesis, the results showed no difference between synchronous and asynchronous stimulation on self-face attribution in any of the three studies. We thus conclude that visuo-cardiac synchrony does not boost self-attribution of the face as it does that of hand and full-body.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, 'Sapienza', University of Rome, Rome, Italy.|Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.|Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Porciello
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Moritz M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Daum
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Menghini
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brugger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.|Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bigna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lenggenhager
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult