Parts of my Self: investigating the neurobehavioral basis of the sense of self to inform novel interventions for psychiatric conditions

The self, the experience of “mineness”, is thought to have a hierarchical structure with a lower bodily level and higher cognitive and social aspects. However, neuroscientific proof of the necessity of these building blocks for an intact self is lacking.

I will address this knowledge gap by studying the neurobiological consequences of losing such building blocks (aim 1) and in conditions with known self-related symptomatology (aim 2).Expanding on my VR starting grant, I will investigate self-relevant neurobehavorial contributors using psychophysics, behavior, neurophysiology, and neuroimaging.

Both aims will run in parallel for 5-years.

Aim 1 includes participants who lost a part of the self: of the bodily self (due to amputation/accident) or of the social self (due to romantic relationship end).

Aim 2 includes participants with schizophrenia and with depersonalization.Self-domain dysfunctions are considered crucial shared symptomatology across psychiatric conditions.

However, since the neuroscientific basis of the self is poorly understood, self-related symptoms are not well-addressed in current treatments.

I therefore suggest to improve the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms giving rise to a functional sense of self, thereby forming the basis to develop novel treatments for better adaptation after self-relevant loss, and for improved function in conditions with self-related symptomatology.