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The body schema and multisensory representation(s) of peripersonal space

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Abstract

To guide the movement of the body through space, the brain must constantly monitor the position and movement of the body in relation to nearby objects. The effective piloting of the body to avoid or manipulate objects in pursuit of behavioural goals requires an integrated neural representation of the body (the ‘body schema’) and of the space around the body (‘peripersonal space’). In the review that follows, we describe and evaluate recent results from neurophysiology, neuropsychology, and psychophysics in both human and non-human primates that support the existence of an integrated representation of visual, somatosensory, and auditory peripersonal space. Such a representation involves primarily visual, somatosensory, and proprioceptive modalities, operates in body-part-centred reference frames, and demonstrates significant plasticity. Recent research shows that the use of tools, the viewing of one’s body or body parts in mirrors, and in video monitors, may also modulate the visuotactile representation of peripersonal space.

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Notes

  1. Head and Holmes (1911–1912, pp. 186–189) distinguished two principal aspects of the ‘body schema’ based on a neurological understanding of the dissociations in bodily sensibility that follow selective lesions of the spinal cord, brainstem, thalamus, and cerebral cortex. The ‘postural schema’ represents the position and movement of the body, and is derived primarily from proprioceptive and kinaesthetic afferent impulses. Their second schema is derived from cutaneous afferent impulses signalling the location of tactile stimuli on the surface of the body. These schemata are independent from, though related to, conscious ‘images’ of the body. Many separate classifications of ‘body schema’ and ‘body image’ have followed this original definition. For clarity, however, we adhere to the neurological taxonomy of Head and Holmes, while acknowledging that the body schema should not necessarily be restricted to proprioceptive and somatosensory modalities alone, but should also incorporate visual and perhaps even auditory information as well (for a range of perspectives on the body schema see, for example, Berlucchi and Aglioti 1997; Schilder 1935; the chapters in Bermúdez et al. 2003; and the proceedings of a recent conference at http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~gvdvyver/body-image/hoofdblad.htm).

  2. The term ‘reference frame’ is used to refer to the centre of a coordinate system for representing objects, including the body itself, and relations between objects (e.g., Cohen and Andersen 2002). For example, a retinotopic reference frame would take as its centre the fovea of each retina and would represent visual objects in relation to this origin. In a head-centred reference frame, objects are represented independently of eye movements, and in a body-centred frame, independently of both head and eye movements. Both body-centred and body-part-centred frames may be important in the representation of peripersonal space.

  3. The requirement for the hands to be visible for ‘visual’ peripersonal space to be stimulated more effectively raises an interesting question. Does the reduction in visuotactile extinction when the right hand is not visible depend on there being a physical barrier between the visual stimulus and the hand, or simply on the occlusion of vision of the hand itself? Farnè et al. (2003) have recently addressed this question in a patient suffering from crossmodal extinction. They showed that the insertion of a transparent barrier between the visual stimulus applied near the right hand and the hand itself had no effect on the proportion of left tactile stimuli extinguished in comparison to peripersonal right visual stimulation in the absence of any barrier. By contrast, an opaque barrier that occluded vision of the hand resulted in a significant decrease in the number of left tactile stimuli extinguished by simultaneous right visual stimuli just above the barrier. This result suggests that it is not simply the presence of a barrier itself, but rather the occlusion of vision of the body part that is important in modulating visuotactile crossmodal extinction.

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Acknowledgements

N.P. Holmes is supported by a Wellcome Prize Studentship (number 065696/Z/01/A) from The Wellcome Trust.

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  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Room B121, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK

    Nicholas P. Holmes & Charles Spence

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  1. Nicholas P. Holmes
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Correspondence to Nicholas P. Holmes.

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Edited by: Marie-Hélène Giard and Mark Wallace

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Holmes, N.P., Spence, C. The body schema and multisensory representation(s) of peripersonal space. Cogn Process 5, 94–105 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-004-0013-3

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