PLoS ONE
June 10, 2016
Katharine N Thakkar, Heathman S Nichols, Lindsey G Mcintosh et al.
273 citations
People with schizophrenia experience a stronger rubber hand illusion (RHI) than matched controls, suggesting a more flexible body representation and weakened sense of self. In the RHI, watching a rubber hand being stroked while one's own unseen hand is stroked synchronously creates a sense of ownership over the rubber hand. In 24 schizophrenia patients and 21 controls, synchronous stimulation produced greater proprioceptive drift and stronger self-reported illusion in patients. Stimulation-dependent temperature changes occurred in both groups. One patient reported an out-of-body experience during the illusion, linking body disownership to psychotic experiences. The findings indicate abnormalities in temporo-parietal networks involved in body ownership, which may underlie delusions of passivity in schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia research
January 1, 2014
Ji-Won Hur, Jun Soo Kwon, Tae Young Lee et al.
165 citations
People with schizophrenia experience significant disturbances in the minimal self, particularly in the sense of body ownership and sense of agency. A meta-analysis of 25 studies (690 patients, 979 controls) found a moderate overall effect (Hedge's g = 0.51) indicating basic self-disturbance. Body ownership showed a large effect (0.91), agency a moderate effect (0.49), and self-reported subjective experiences a moderate effect (0.57). The disturbed sense of agency suggests exaggerated self-consciousness rather than a diminished sense of self. Results remained significant after correcting for publication bias.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2023
Cherise Rosen, Sohee Park, Tatiana Baxter et al.
13 citations
Sensed presence—the feeling that someone or something is there despite no one being present—is a common experience that can occur in many contexts, from isolation to psychosis. This online survey of adults found three distinct clusters of people based on their levels of sensed presence, attenuated psychosis symptoms, and transliminality (a trait involving absorption, fantasy proneness, and heightened sensitivity). One cluster had few sensed presence experiences, low psychosis symptoms, and low transliminality. A second cluster had moderate sensed presence, low psychosis symptoms, and moderate transliminality, along with increased closeness to God.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2026
Tatiana Baxter, Sohee Park
1 citation
Felt presence—the sensation that someone else is nearby despite no evidence—is linked to psychosis risk in the general population. An online survey of 376 adults found that felt presence and anxiety together predicted elevated psychosis risk. People at high risk reported more frequent, distressing, vivid, and multisensory felt-presence experiences. Distress during the experience predicted psychosis risk even after accounting for anxiety and other factors. Cumulative trauma was tied to more frequent and vivid felt-presence episodes and to knowing the identity of the sensed entity. Depression, anxiety, and stress were associated with stronger physical sensations and distress during the experience. Resilience unexpectedly correlated with more frequent and vivid felt presence. The findings suggest that qualities of felt presence may serve as markers of psychosis risk distinct from other psychosocial factors.
November 7, 2022
Joseph M Barnby, Sohee Park, Tatiana Baxter et al.
1 citation
preprint
The felt presence (FP) experience—the sense that someone else is nearby without sensory evidence—ranges from benevolent to distressing and can be personified or ambiguous. FP occurs in neuropsychological conditions, psychosis, paranoia, sleep paralysis, anxiety, endurance sports, and spiritualist communities. This review covers philosophical, phenomenological, clinical, and non-clinical aspects of FP, along with psychometric, cognitive, and neurophysiological measurement methods. It presents current mechanistic explanations, proposes a unifying cognitive framework, and identifies outstanding questions. FP provides a window into the cognitive neuroscience of own-body awareness and social agency detection, an intuitive but poorly understood experience in health and disorder.
Schizophrenia bulletin
April 10, 2026
Cherise Rosen, Liping Tong, Julia G Lebovitz et al.
Depersonalization (DP) and derealization (DR) are alterations in sense of self and lifeworld that often co-occur in psychosis. Over 20 years, the Chicago Longitudinal Study examined these phenomena across psychiatric categories. DP was broadly distributed across diagnoses, while DR showed greater specificity to schizophrenia. Network analyses revealed three foundational constructs in schizophrenia: alteration in sense of self/lifeworld, multisensory experiences, and bodily experiences; bodily and multisensory alterations were foundational in affective-psychosis. Self-disturbance emerged as foundational only in schizophrenia. The findings support reframing DP and DR as points on a continuum of attenuated alterations in sense of self and lifeworld, representing a fundamental self-disturbance in existential feeling.