期刊
COGNITION
卷 166, 期 -, 页码 174-183出版社
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.05.028
关键词
Consciousness; Multisensory integration; Peripersonal space; Bodily self-consciousness; Continuous flash suppression; Visual awareness
资金
- Bertarelli Foundation
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- European Science Foundation
- W Investments S.A., Switzerland
- Swiss National Science Foundation [PP00P3_163951]
- Leenards Foundation
- National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) - Swiss National Science Foundation [51AU40_125759]
- EU Human Brain Project
- Fulbright Scholarship
- National Science Centre Poland [2014/13/N/HS6/02963]
- United States Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [PP00P3_163951] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
Recent studies have highlighted the role of multisensory integration as a key mechanism of self-consciousness. In particular, integration of bodily signals within the peripersonal space (PPS) underlies the experience of the self in a body we own (self-identification) and that is experienced as occupying a specific location in space (self-location), two main components of bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Experiments investigating the effects of multisensory integration on BSC have typically employed supra-threshold sensory stimuli, neglecting the role of unconscious sensory signals in BSC, as tested in other consciousness research. Here, we used psychophysical techniques to test whether multisensory integration of bodily stimuli underlying BSC also occurs for multisensory inputs presented below the threshold of conscious perception. Our results indicate that visual stimuli rendered invisible through continuous flash suppression boost processing of tactile stimuli on the body (Exp. 1), and enhance the perception of near-threshold tactile stimuli (Exp. 2), only once they entered PPS. We then employed unconscious multisensory stimulation to manipulate BSC. Participants were presented with tactile stimulation on their body and with visual stimuli on a virtual body, seen at a distance, which were either visible or rendered invisible. We found that participants reported higher self-identification with the virtual body in the synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation (as compared to asynchronous stimulation; Exp. 3), and shifted their self-location toward the virtual body (Exp.4), even if stimuli were fully invisible. Our results indicate that multisensory inputs, even outside of awareness, are integrated and affect the phenomenological content of self-consciousness, grounding BSC firmly in the field of psychophysical consciousness studies. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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