TY - JOUR
T1 - Bodily self
T2 - An implicit knowledge of what is explicitly unknown
AU - Frassinetti, Francesca
AU - Ferri, Francesca
AU - Maini, Manuela
AU - Benassi, Maria Grazia
AU - Gallese, Vittorio
PY - 2011/7
Y1 - 2011/7
N2 - We tested the hypothesis that the body self-advantage, i.e., the facilitation in discriminating self versus other people's body-effectors, is the expression of an implicit and body-specific knowledge, based mainly on the sensorimotor representation of one's own body-effectors. Alternatively, the body self-advantage could rely on visual recognition of pictorial cues. According to the first hypothesis, using gray-scale pictures of body-parts, the body self-advantage should emerge when self-body recognition is implicitly required and should be specific for body-effectors and not for inanimate-objects. In contrast, if the self-advantage is due to a mere visual-perceptual facilitation, it should be independent of the implicit or explicit request (and could be extended also to objects). To disentangle these hypotheses, healthy participants were implicitly or explicitly required to recognize either their own body-effectors or inanimate-objects. Participants were more accurate in the implicit task with self rather than with others' body-effectors. In contrast, the self-advantage was not found when an explicit recognition of one's own body-effectors was required, suggesting that the body self-advantage relies upon a sensorimotor, rather than a mere visual representation of one's own body. Moreover, the absence of both self/other and implicit/explicit effects, when processing inanimate-objects, underlines the differences between the body and other objects.
AB - We tested the hypothesis that the body self-advantage, i.e., the facilitation in discriminating self versus other people's body-effectors, is the expression of an implicit and body-specific knowledge, based mainly on the sensorimotor representation of one's own body-effectors. Alternatively, the body self-advantage could rely on visual recognition of pictorial cues. According to the first hypothesis, using gray-scale pictures of body-parts, the body self-advantage should emerge when self-body recognition is implicitly required and should be specific for body-effectors and not for inanimate-objects. In contrast, if the self-advantage is due to a mere visual-perceptual facilitation, it should be independent of the implicit or explicit request (and could be extended also to objects). To disentangle these hypotheses, healthy participants were implicitly or explicitly required to recognize either their own body-effectors or inanimate-objects. Participants were more accurate in the implicit task with self rather than with others' body-effectors. In contrast, the self-advantage was not found when an explicit recognition of one's own body-effectors was required, suggesting that the body self-advantage relies upon a sensorimotor, rather than a mere visual representation of one's own body. Moreover, the absence of both self/other and implicit/explicit effects, when processing inanimate-objects, underlines the differences between the body and other objects.
KW - Body
KW - Explicit knowledge
KW - Implicit
KW - Self
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79958837205&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1007/s00221-011-2708-x
DO - 10.1007/s00221-011-2708-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 21553263
AN - SCOPUS:79958837205
VL - 212
SP - 153
EP - 160
JO - Experimental Brain Research
JF - Experimental Brain Research
SN - 0014-4819
IS - 1
ER -