Abstract

The exact relation between the sense that one’s body is one’s own and the sense that one controls one’s body has been the focus of much speculation, but remains unclear. A series of behavioral experiments has suggested that control over bodily movements and one’s sense of control over them produce a more global awareness of one’s body in space and time, lending support to an “additive” model whereby agency and body ownership are strongly related; the ability to control actions is a powerful cue to body ownership. However, functional neuroimaging findings support an alternative “independence” model whereby agency and body ownership are qualitatively different experiences, triggered by different inputs, and recruiting distinct brain networks. The apparently inconsistent results between psychophysical and neuroimaging experiments are interpreted in the context of the recent understanding of neuropsychological syndromes that affect action- and/or body-awareness.