John Libbey Eurotext




How body position influences the perception and conscious experience of corporeal and extrapersonal space
Revue de neuropsychologie. Volume 2, Number 3, 195-202, septembre 2010, Dossier
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Author(s) : Christophe Lopez, Olaf Blanke
Summary : The present article reviews data in healthy subjects as well as otological and neurological patients indicating the possibility to manipulate the perception of the visual vertical, as well as the perception of personal and extrapersonal space by changing body position in space. As a general rule, the supine position leads to decreased performance in visual vertical judgments and tactile perception probably because vestibular otolith receptors and muscular proprioceptive receptors are less sensitive to gravity in this specific orientation. By contrast, in patients with unilateral brain damage (neglect and extinction patients), the supine position reduces spatial symptoms during visual vertical judgments, exploration of the extrapersonal space (line bisection) and personal space (tactile perception). We also highlight evidence suggesting that body position influences bodily self-consciousness, such as embodiment and the first-person perspective, concluding by showing that artificial vestibular stimulation allows to manipulate bodily self-consciousness.
Keywords : vestibular system, multisensory integration, embodiment, spatial neglect, posture

How body position influences the perception and conscious experience of corporeal and extrapersonal space