We instinctively feel that our sense of self, our consciousness, resides somewhere behind our eyes, centered within our body. This experience of being an embodied self, a singular “I” at a specific point in space, feels immediate and constant. It is the default first-person perspective of our existence.
This awareness is, however, the result of a complex process. It is a carefully constructed perception, managed by an intricate interplay between our brain and body. Our feeling of being “here” is not a given, but a remarkable biological and psychological achievement.
The Brain’s Central Role in Self-Perception
The brain is central to our sense of self, with specific networks of brain regions working in concert to produce the feeling of being a distinct entity located within a body. One area is the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), which is involved in integrating different streams of sensory information. It helps distinguish our own body from the external world, contributing to the boundary between “self” and “other.”
Another region is the insular cortex, involved in self-referential processes and awareness of the body’s internal state. Alongside these, the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex are active when we engage in self-reflection and retrieve autobiographical memories that form our personal story. These areas are part of a broader network known as the default mode network, which is associated with our narrative self, or the story of “me” that involves our past and future.
Research also highlights the anterior precuneus (aPCu). This area appears to be an epicenter for a system that integrates information about your location, motion, and body position to create a mental map of your physical self. This network is distinct from the default mode network and is more concerned with the immediate, here-and-now experience of being “I,” the agent of our actions.
How We Know Where Our Body Is
Our brain relies on a constant flow of data from the body to anchor our sense of self in a physical space. This process depends on proprioception, which is the body’s ability to perceive its own position and movement. Receptors in our muscles, tendons, and joints send continuous signals to the brain, creating an internal map, or body schema, of where our limbs are without us having to look.
Complementing this is interoception, the sense of the internal state of our body. This includes sensations like a beating heart, the feeling of hunger, or the temperature of our skin. This information contributes to our feeling of being an embodied organism and provides a foundational layer of physical self-awareness.
The brain seamlessly integrates these sensory inputs with information from our other senses, such as vision, touch, and balance. The extrastriate body area becomes active when we see images of body parts, suggesting its role in visually recognizing our own form. This fusion of sensory data grounds our consciousness within the borders of our skin.
When the Self Feels Misplaced
The brain’s construction of a located self can be disrupted, leading to profound changes in perception. Out-of-body experiences (OBEs), for example, involve the sensation of viewing one’s own body from a location outside of it. These experiences can be triggered by various factors, including neurological conditions or trauma, and highlight the brain’s role in creating our spatial perspective.
Phantom limb sensation is another phenomenon. Amputees often continue to feel the presence of a missing limb, sometimes with pain or movement. This occurs because the brain’s map of the body has not fully updated to account for the physical change, demonstrating that our felt sense of the body is a neural representation, not just a direct reading of physical reality.
Conditions like depersonalization can also alter the feeling of self-location. Individuals may feel detached from their own body and thoughts. Studies involving electrical stimulation of brain regions like the anterior precuneus have induced similar feelings of detachment, causing feelings of floating or falling. These cases show our sense of being located in our body is a fragile construction.
Philosophical and Extended Concepts of Self-Location
While neuroscience provides a biological basis, philosophy has long debated the nature of the self. The classic mind-body problem questions whether the self, or consciousness, is purely a product of the brain’s physical processes. Some perspectives argue that the self is not confined to the brain but is an emergent property of the entire organism interacting with its environment.
This view suggests the self is relational, defined by the connection between the brain, body, and world. It challenges the idea that “you” can be found in a single spot in the cortex. Instead, the self is seen as a continuous process that extends beyond the skull, tied to our physical actions and sensory experiences.
Modern technology further complicates our understanding of where the self can be. Immersive virtual reality can induce a strong sense of presence in a digital environment, allowing a person to feel embodied in an avatar. These experiences raise new questions about the flexibility of our sense of self-location and whether our “I” can be temporarily relocated or distributed across physical and virtual spaces.