Location of the Self

A lot of research suggests that people have an understanding of what they consider their ‘self’ and where it is located, namely near the head and upper torso. We assess whether these interpretations of the location of the self, which are based on subjective ratings, can be confirmed with an objective measure. Therefore, we used a paradigm in which neutral stimuli are associated with the self and a prioritization of the newly self-associated stimuli is interpreted as an integration of the stimuli into the self. Remarkably, only when the to-be-associated stimuli were presented close to the head and upper torso they were integrated and prioritized, but not when the stimuli were presented far away from these regions. The results indicate an influence of the distance between to-be-associated stimuli and the head/upper torso, thereby suggesting an implicit location of the self in this area, which does not depend on external beliefs.

Dataset for: Schäfer, S., Wentura, D., Pauly, M., & Frings, C. (2019). The natural egocenter: An experimental account of locating the self. Consciousness and Cognition, 74, 102775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2019.102775