University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > Zangwill Club > Losing Touch With Your Body: Clinical and Experimentally-Induced States of Body Disownership

Losing Touch With Your Body: Clinical and Experimentally-Induced States of Body Disownership

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

  • User Professor Bigna Lenggenhager, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • ClockFriday 21 May 2021, 16:30-18:00
  • HouseZoom meeting.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Matthew Attwaters.

Abstract: The seemingly stable construct of our bodily self depends on the continued, successful integration of multisensory feedback about our body, rather than its purely physical composition. Empirical evidence suggests that using multisensory stimulation paradigms, healthy individuals can embody external and supernumerary body parts or full bodies, even if they are very different from their own body. The sense of a bodily self is thus thought to be plastic and easily extendable towards external objects. Yet, pathologies of embodiment often involve an altered sense of ownership towards one’s own physical body rather than towards external objects. Such psychiatric and neurological disorders might include a feeling of disembodiment or disownership, which might even lead to the desire to amputate a healthy limb. In this talk I will present combined evidence from recent clinical and empirical experiments to shed further light on underlying processes of disownership and disembodiment. I will discuss the relevance of these findings for current theories of body ownership and embodiment as well as for potential clinical considerations and applications.

This talk is part of the Zangwill Club series.

Tell a friend about this talk:

This talk is included in these lists:

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.

 

© 2006-2024 Talks.cam, University of Cambridge. Contact Us | Help and Documentation | Privacy and Publicity