Body Representation of Bodies with Absent Limbs

Self-other interactions are facilitated through the activation of the body schema – a representation of one’s body is used as a reference to map others’ bodies. Here, the body-part compatibility effect was used as an index of self-other matching. The body-part compatibility effect describes the finding that there are shorter response times to targets presented on an observed limb that is homologous to the responding limb than when the observed and responding limbs are non-homologous. This compatibility effect was investigated as participants viewed bodies with hidden or visible limbs (Experiment 1) and missing or intact limbs (Experiment 2). Compatibility effects were present when viewing hidden and visible limbs (Experiment 1), whereas the compatibility effect was only present for both responding limbs when viewing the missing legs (Experiment 2 preliminary). Overall, the results indicate that self-other matching may be reduced when the limbs of the model are hidden behind an object.%%%%M.Sc.