Author: Salvato G1,2,3, Richter F4, Sedeño L5,6, Bottini G1,2,3, Paulesu E7,8
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
<sup>2</sup>Centre of Cognitive Neuropsychology, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milan, Italy.
<sup>3</sup>NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy.
<sup>4</sup>Department of Psychology, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany.
<sup>5</sup>Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Translational and Cognitive Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
<sup>6</sup>National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
<sup>7</sup>Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
<sup>8</sup>IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy.
Conference/Journal: Hum Brain Mapp.
Date published: 2019 Oct 14
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1002/hbm.24810. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 191
Exteroceptive and interoceptive signals shape and sustain the bodily self-awareness. The existence of a set of brain areas, supporting the integration of information coming from the inside and the outside of the body in building the sense of bodily self-awareness has been postulated, yet the evidence remains limited, a matter of discussion never assessed quantitatively. With the aim of unrevealing where in the brain interoceptive and exteroceptive signals may converge, we performed a meta-analysis on imaging studies of the sense of body ownership, modulated by external visuotactile stimulation, and studies on interoception, which involves the self-awareness for internal bodily sensations. Using a multilevel kernel density analysis, we found that processing of stimuli of the two domains converges primarily in the supramarginal gyrus bilaterally. Furthermore, we found a right-lateralized set of areas, including the precentral and postcentral, and superior temporal gyri. We discuss these results and propose this set of areas as ideal candidates to match multiple body-related signals contributing to the creation of a multidimensional representation of the bodily self.
© 2019 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
KEYWORDS: bodily self; body awareness; body ownership; interoception
PMID: 31609042 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24810