Shintaisei sisutemu to rihabiriteisyonn no kagaku 2 (Science for Embodied System and Rehabilitation 2)

When humans normally move their bodies, they get sense of agency (the subjective awareness that one is excusing and controlling one’s own actions) and sense of body ownership (the awareness that one is the owner of an action or movement). These senses are crucial ingredients of the bodily self-consciousness. Our research project found that neural substrates for the bodily self-consciousness mainly exist in neural networks extend over the inferior parietal lobe and the inferior frontal gyrus in the right cerebral hemisphere. This finding was supported by our behavioral experiments, measurements of brain activity, and non-invasive brain stimulation in normal human subjects as well as our analysis of neural networks in schizophrenic patients with altered bodily self-consciousness. Furthermore, our neurophysiological study on monkeys revealed detailed neural mechanisms of sensory suppression that is the basis of bodily self-awareness.
 

(Written by IMAMIZU Hiroshi, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2019)