The Extended Body Hypothesis
The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition October 9, 2018 Frédérique De Vignemont 5 citations
The chapter examines whether bodily awareness, like cognition, can extend beyond the biological body. It considers a weak version of the extended body hypothesis, where tool embodiment shows that the sense of body is malleable but limited—people do not genuinely feel sensations in tools. A stronger version claims bodily awareness is not even bounded by the apparent body, as sensations can be experienced in peripersonal space. However, the author argues that even in such cases, the apparent boundaries of skull and skin remain significant, suggesting that bodily awareness has constraints that cognition may not share.