Ehrsson Laboratory

Research focus

Multisensory mechanisms of body self-perception

Our core line of research is centered on the question of how we come to perceive ownership over our bodies. This question can be framed in terms of a multisensory binding problem: how is visual, tactile and proprioceptive information combined to obtain a single coherent object that is one's own body? Our results suggest that that the underlying mechan­ism is the integration of multisensory signals by populations of neurons in the premotor cortex and the posterior parietal cortex.

We also want to understand how we perceive ownership over an entire body as opposed to fragmented parts, and how we come to experience that our physical self is located at a particular place in the word. Another line of questioning addresses how the central own-body representation influences other cognitive functions, such as visuospatial perception of environmental objects and the recollection of personal memories.

Novel behavior paradigms based on perceptual illusion are used in combination with state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques to address these questions in humans. These illusions allow the controlled manipulation of specific aspects of body representation in healthy individuals. Neuroimaging and focal neuro­disruption methods allow us to test hypotheses regarding underlying brain mechanisms.

The multisensory model of body ownership that continues to be developed in our laboratory is already being used in the field of neuro-prosthetics and by the virtual reality research community, thereby establishing opportunities for important clinical and industrial applications.