Body consciousness, attention and space

Body consciousness

Led by Paul Jenkinson this research is carried out by the body and consciousness group and seeks to understand how the body is perceived and contributes to a sense of self. The team study how people integrate information from different sources to form a coherent experience of the body – and how this process can be disrupted. A combination of behavioural and psychophysiological techniques, in healthy individuals and clinical populations, is used to study the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying healthy and disordered body image and fundamental aspects of self-awareness. This work has implications for the understanding and treatment of people with disturbances of body representation, such as stroke patients, and people with body image concerns or disturbed eating behaviour.

Spatial navigation

Rebecca Knight's research is focussed on how humans and animals process spatial information and how they use this information to build a cognitive representation of the world around them. In particular, she is interested in spatial information that conveys heading direction and how humans and animals integrate visual and vestibular cues.