SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
Somatosensory signals and the “I” of conscious experience in healthy subjects and neurological patients
| Coordinatore | ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Organization address
address: BATIMENT CE 3316 STATION 1 contact info |
| Nazionalità Coordinatore | Switzerland [CH] |
| Totale costo | 172˙565 € |
| EC contributo | 172˙565 € |
| Programma | FP7-PEOPLE
Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) |
| Code Call | FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF |
| Funding Scheme | MC-IEF |
| Anno di inizio | 2010 |
| Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) | 2010-04-01 - 2012-03-31 |
Partecipanti
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Organization address
address: BATIMENT CE 3316 STATION 1 contact info |
CH (LAUSANNE) | coordinator | 172˙565.20 |
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Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)
'The present project will address key questions on how the representation of the body by the brain contributes to the sense of self. I will intend to study the contribution of somatosensory inputs to bodily self-consciousness in healthy subjects and polyneuropathic patients. Virtual reality and cognitive science in combination with muscle tendon vibrations and brain imaging techniques (high density electroencephalography (EEG)) will be used to reach this goal. I propose to investigate this in the context of the recently described “full body illusion” that uses visuo-tactile conflicts to alter crucial aspects of bodily self-consciousness such as “what we feel as our body” (self identification) and “where we experience our body to be” (self-location). The “full body illusion” will be associated with vibrations applied at the lower limbs in order to determine whether bodily self-consciousness is altered by such somatosensory noise in healthy subjects. The vibration technique reproduces to some extent the degradation of proprioceptive inputs that is generally linked with polyneuropathy. In order to further understand the contribution of the somatosensory system to bodily self-consciousness I also plan to carry out the above described experiments in polyneuropathic patients. This proposal is highly original in its combination of high-quality quantitative psychophysical and neuroimaging studies of fundamental body perception with deep neuroscientific and philosophical questions about the neural basis of the self. This research will be of great relevance not just for science, but also for diagnostics in neurology and psychiatry, neurorehabilitation of polyneuropathic patients, virtual reality applications and man-machine interfaces. Finally, the neuroscience of self-consciousness is also of great interest for the general public. The topic of self-consciousness has not only been a mystery for scientists, but naturally intrigues most humans.'