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The secret of body awareness: How does your brain sense the position of your limbs?
In our daily lives, every movement of the body, from the inadvertently raised toes to precise gestures, originates from a concept called "body schema." This concept involves how the brain internally constructs a simulation of its own body and the position of its limbs. This scientific exploration not only reveals how we perceive ourselves, but also reflects on our interactions with our environment.
The body schema is an organism's internal model of its own body, including the position of its limbs.
History of body schema
The concept of body schema was first described by British neuroscientist Henry Head in the early 1900s. Together with another neuroscientist, Gordon Morgan Holmes, their research focused on the function of sensory nerves, and they originally used the "postural schema" to describe the symptoms caused by damage to the parietal lobe of the brain. Impaired spatial perception caused by. As research deepens, the term "body schema" slowly evolves into an organizational model for how we understand ourselves.
Characteristics of body schema
Contemporary neuroscientists Patrick Haggard and Daniel Wolpert identified seven basic characteristics of the body schema, including spatial coding, modularity, adaptability, and supermodelling. Morality, consistency, interpersonality, and updates with movement.
Spatial encoding
The body schema represents the position and configuration of a three-dimensional object in space. Integrating sensory information such as touch and vision can achieve accurate localization of stimuli.
Modularity
Body schema is not represented in a single area of the brain, as recent fMRI studies confirm. The body patterns of hands and feet are encoded by different brain areas, and the patterns of various limb parts are responsible for different neuron systems.
Adaptability
Body schema will continue to undergo plastic changes as the individual grows. For example, as children develop, the way they use cutlery becomes more optimized with age.
Supermodality
The body schema integrates proprioceptive, tactile and visual information into a three-dimensional representation, which means that information from different senses can be converted into each other
Consistency and Interpersonality
The body schema needs to be consistent and able to interact with others, which is why the ability to imitate the movements of others is so comfortable.
Updates with sports
Body schemas need to be constantly updated as body parts move through space, a function apparently coordinated by multisensory neurons in the brain.
Expand the concept of body schema
In addition to internal perceptions, the expanded concept of the body schema holds that external objects can also be incorporated into this mental concept. Although this theory is controversial, proponents believe that tools and external objects are cognitively integrated and adapted to the body.
Confusion between body schema and body image
Body schema and body image have historically been used interchangeably. The former involves sensory abilities of body movements and postures, while the latter involves perceptions and beliefs about one's own appearance. Understanding the difference between the two is critical for applications in psychology and medicine.
How body perception affects our behavior and decision-making is a question that is attracting more and more researchers. Perhaps more mysteries about body schema will be revealed in the future. Do you have any questions about this topic? What do you think?
