Environment-Related and Body-Related Components of the Minimal Self.
Marvin Liesner, Wilfried Kunde
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2021 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712559 via PubMed
Summary
Actions cause perceptual changes in different sensory modalities and at different distances from the body. Some changes happen on the biological body and are sensed through private signals, while others happen in the environment and are sensed through public signals. Despite functional overlap in how these signals contribute to self-experience, distinguishing between them is important for theories and empirical research on self-development.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Private and public sensory signals from one's own actions both contribute to selfhood but should be distinguished in research on self-development. |
Abstract
Perceptual changes that an agent produces by efferent activity can become part of the agent's minimal self. Yet, in human agents, efferent activities produce perceptual changes in various sensory modalities and in various temporal and spatial proximities. Some of these changes occur at the "biological" body, and they are to some extent conveyed by "private" sensory signals, whereas other changes occur in the environment of that biological body and are conveyed by "public" sensory signals. We discuss commonalties and differences of these signals for generating selfhood. We argue that despite considerable functional overlap of these sensory signals in generating self-experience, there are reasons to tell them apart in theorizing and empirical research about development of the self.