We are glad to announce the seminar “At the root of bodily self-consciousness” organized by Tohoku University and held by Prof. Lorenzo Pia (Ph.D.), Associate Professor & Research Group Coordinator SAMBA – SpAtial, Motor & Bodily Awareness, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Italy.
The seminar is part of the “Japan meets Italian Scientists 2019” program to promote scientific and technological collaboration between Italy and Japan. The program is promoted by the Embassy of Italy in Tokyo.
The event is supported by the Association of Italian Researchers in Japan.
At present, there is a large consensus that human sense of agency (i.e., “this action is due to my own will”) is rooted in a variety of internal efferent signals arising within the motor system (e.g., motor intentions, planning, sensorimotor predictions and so on). However, recent neuroscientific evidence suggests that that also body-related afferent signals subserving body ownership (i.e., “this body is mine”) might have a role per se in building up human conscious awareness of willed actions.
In the present seminar, I will present data from both brain damaged-patients and intact brain functioning supporting this idea. Then, I will argue that, whenever required by the context, body ownership per se can act on agency attribution (i.e., independently from efferent signals).
This, in turn, indicates that a unitary and coherent subjective experience of willed actions (i.e., “this willed action is being realized by my own body”) requires both awareness of being an agent and of owning the body.
Location:
Smart Aging Research Center (IDAC), Seminar Room 2F
4-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0872
The seminar will be also in live streaming on https://youtu.be/Qv2Gs2PciS4.
Enquiry
Dalila Burin (Ph.D.)
Assistant Professor, Tohoku University
burin.dalila.c3@tohoku.ac.jp