Multisensory integration in Peripersonal Space indexes consciousness states in sleep and disorders of consciousness
bioRxiv Preprint Server October 25, 2024 Tommaso Bertoni, Giulia Ricci, Jane Jöhr et al. 1 citation preprint
Conscious experience includes not only awareness of external objects but also a sense of the embodied self, which relies on integrating multisensory stimuli near the body, a process involving the Peripersonal Space (PPS) system. Using high-density EEG in awake participants, a neural marker of PPS—high-beta oscillations in centroparietal regions during audiotactile integration near versus far from the body—was identified. This marker persisted during dreaming and waking conscious states but was absent during dreamless, unconscious states. In patients with disorders of consciousness, the same index predicted behavioral measures of consciousness and clinical outcome, suggesting that multisensory integration within PPS is tightly linked to conscious experience.