Where exactly in your body are YOU?

From Alsmith & Longo 2014Although you probably consider all of your body is yours, if you're like most people, you also have a feeling that your very essence, your self, is more localised. Past research has turned up mixed findings for where exactly this spot is. In some studies people say they are located in their head, near the eyes. Other research has found that people consider the self to be located in the chest. The varied results are probably partly due to the different methods used. Some studies have focused on people's judgments about their own essence; others have involved participants marking the location of another person's self on a drawing of the body.According to Adrian Alsmith and Matthew Longo - another problem with past studies is that they haven't given participants the option to choose more than one location. In their new paper, the researchers invited 10 participants to stand opposite a pointer mounted on a stand (see picture). As the researcher rotated the pointer up or down, each participant had to say when it was pointing "directly at them". The starting angle and height of the pointer was varied from trial to trial. Also, the participants were sometimes blindfolded, in which case they moved the pointer themselves to a position that felt like it was pointing directly at them. There were 96 trials per person in all.The researchers divided the chosen pointer positions into five areas, depending on whether its final position was pointed at: lower torso...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs