Dr Dorothy Cowie, Durham University

Developing a representation of the bodily self

Compared with many other psychological processes, one might think that understanding one’s own body is a relatively easy task. Close inspection, however, reveals a complex problem. Body understanding has multiple inputs: for example, multisensory information and prior knowledge. It also has multiple outputs: for example, a subjective sense of body ownership, and the spatial localisation of body parts. Even in adults, it is perhaps not surprising that this complex sense of bodily self can be manipulated with techniques such as the Rubber Hand Illusion. Children must operate in the context of rapid bodily growth and constant functional changes. Might body representation might be even more difficult and flexible for children than for adults? In this talk I will answer this question using a range of experimental evidence, and discuss the implications of the work for emerging VR technologies.