Body schema

Body schema is an organism's internal model of its own body, including the position of its limbs. The neurologist Sir Henry Head originally defined it as a postural model of the body that actively organizes and modifies 'the impressions produced by incoming sensory impulses in such a way that the final sensation of body position, or of locality, rises into consciousness charged with a relation to something that has happened before'.[1] As a postural model that keeps track of limb position, it plays an important role in control of action.

It involves aspects of both central (brain processes) and peripheral (sensory, proprioceptive) systems. Thus, a body schema can be considered the collection of processes that registers the posture of one's body parts in space. The schema is updated during body movement. This is typically a non-conscious process, and is used primarily for spatial organization of action. It is therefore a pragmatic representation of the body’s spatial properties, which includes the length of limbs and limb segments, their arrangement, the configuration of the segments in space, and the shape of the body surface.[2][3][4][5] Body schema also plays an important role in the integration and use of tools by humans.[6][7][8][9]

Body schema is different from body image; the distinction between them has developed over time.

  1. ^ Head, H. (1920). Studies in Neurology. Vol 2. London: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Haggard, P.; D. Wolpert (2005). "Disorders of body schema". High-order motor disorders: from neuroanatomy and neurobiology to clinical neurology. Oxford University Press. pp. 261–271. ISBN 0-19-852576-1.
  3. ^ Holmes, N.; C. Spence (2004). "The body schema and the multisensory representation(s) of peripersonal space". Cognitive Processing. 5 (2): 94–105. doi:10.1007/s10339-004-0013-3. PMC 1350799. PMID 16467906.
  4. ^ Macaluso, E. & A. Maravita (2010). "The representation of space near the body through touch and vision". Neuropsychologia. 48 (3): 782–795. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.10.010. PMID 19837101. S2CID 34334160.
  5. ^ Maravita, A.; C. Spence; J. Driver (2003). "Multisensory integration and the body schema: close to hand and within reach". Current Biology. 13 (13): R531–R539. doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00449-4. PMID 12842033.
  6. ^ Berti, A.; F. Frassinetti (2000). "When far becomes near: Remapping of space by tool use". Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 12 (3): 415–420. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.212.2227. doi:10.1162/089892900562237. PMID 10931768. S2CID 207576349.
  7. ^ Carlson, T.; et al. (2010). "Rapid Assimilation of External Objects Into the Body Schema". Psychological Science. 21 (7): 1000–5. doi:10.1177/0956797610371962. PMID 20483818. S2CID 27373885.
  8. ^ Johnson-Frey, S. (2004). "The neural bases of complex tool use in humans". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 8 (2): 71–78. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.12.002. PMID 15588811. S2CID 16447203.
  9. ^ Maravita, A.; A. Iriki (2004). "Tools for the body (schema)". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 8 (2): 79–86. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.12.008. PMID 15588812. S2CID 9679964.