RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Video Ergo Sum: Manipulating Bodily Self-Consciousness JF Science JO Science FD American Association for the Advancement of Science SP 1096 OP 1099 DO 10.1126/science.1143439 VO 317 IS 5841 A1 Lenggenhager, Bigna A1 Tadi, Tej A1 Metzinger, Thomas A1 Blanke, Olaf YR 2007 UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/317/5841/1096.abstract AB Humans normally experience the conscious self as localized within their bodily borders. This spatial unity may break down in certain neurological conditions such as out-of-body experiences, leading to a striking disturbance of bodily self-consciousness. On the basis of these clinical data, we designed an experiment that uses conflicting visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality to disrupt the spatial unity between the self and the body. We found that during multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front of them was their own body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a position outside their bodily borders. Our results indicate that spatial unity and bodily self-consciousness can be studied experimentally and are based on multisensory and cognitive processing of bodily information.