Relating different dimensions of bodily experiences: Review and proposition of an integrative model relying on phenomenology, predictive brain and neuroscience of the self.

Summary

This narrative review maps the fragmented research on how we mentally experience our body, covering neurophysiological, perceptual, affective, and social components. It identifies limits in existing conceptual taxonomies and proposes an integrative framework grounded in phenomenal consciousness, self-consciousness, and bodily self-consciousness. The model relies on predictive processing mechanisms and neural substrates to unify findings across dimensions, enabling interdisciplinary assessment of interrelationships between bodily experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

How we mentally experience our body has been studied in a variety research domains. Each of these domains focuses in its own ways on different aspects of the body, namely the neurophysiological, perceptual, affective or social components, and proposes different conceptual taxonomies. It is therefore difficult to find one's way through this vast literature and to grasp the relationships between the different dimensions of bodily experiences. In this narrative review, we summarize the existing research directions and present their limits. We propose an integrative framework, grounded in studies on phenomenal consciousness, self-consciousness and bodily self-consciousness, that can provide a common basis for evaluating findings on different dimensions of bodily experiences. We review the putative mechanisms, relying on predictive processes, and neural substrates that support this model. We discuss how this model enables a conceptual assessment of the interrelationships between multiple dimensions of bodily experiences and potentiate interdisciplinary approaches.

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