Gut markers of bodily self-consciousness

Summary

Bodily self-consciousness, the awareness of one's own body, is fundamental to human experience but poorly understood. By combining an ingestible capsule that measures gut activity (temperature, pressure, pH, and gastric peak frequency) with surface electrogastrography during a virtual bodily illusion, specific patterns of stomach and bowel activity were found to covary with distinct facets of bodily self-consciousness, such as feelings of body agency, location, and disembodiment. These findings reveal a link between gut physiology and the self-conscious perception of being embodied, demonstrating the potential of minimally invasive probes for studying mind-gut connections.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Bodily self-consciousness, the state of mind that allows humans to be aware of their own body, forms the backdrop for almost every human experience, yet its underpinnings remain elusive. Here we combine an ingestible, minimally invasive capsule with surface electrogastrography to probe if gut physiology correlates with bodily self-consciousness during a virtual bodily illusion. We discover that specific patterns of stomach and bowel activity (temperature, pressure, pH, and gastric peak frequency) covary with specific facets of bodily self-consciousness (feelings of body agency, location, and disembodiment). These results uncover the hitherto untapped potential of minimally invasive probes to study the link between mental and gut states, and reveal a deep visceral pathway to the self-conscious perception of ourselves as embodied beings.