Shared body representations and the "Whose" system

Mirroring has been almost exclusively analysed in motor terms with no reference to the body that carries the action. According to the standard view, one activates motor representations upon seeing other people moving. However, one does not only see movements, one also sees another individual's body. The following questions then arise. To what extent does one recruit body representations in social context? And does it imply that body representations are shared between self and others? This latter question is all the more legitimate since recent evidence indicates the existence of shared cortical networks for bodily sensations, including pain (e.g., Singer et al., 2004) and touch (e.g., Keysers et al., 2004; Blakemore et al., 2005). But if body representations are shared, then it seems that their activation cannot suffice to discriminate between one's body and other people's bodies. Does one then need a "Whose" system to recognize one's body as one's own, in the same way that Jeannerod argued that one needs a "Who" system to recognize one's actions as one's own?

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source ISSN: 0028-3932
Author de Vignemont, Frédérique
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 11, 2026, 13:01 (UTC)
Created May 11, 2026, 13:01 (UTC)
Identifier ijn_00812272
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Institut Jean-Nicod (IJN) ; Département d'Etudes Cognitives - ENS-PSL (DEC) ; École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département de Philosophie - ENS-PSL ; École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)
creator de Vignemont, Frédérique
date 2013-05-11T00:00:00
harvest_object_id a5faca81-cdaa-41d8-a291-a6c9cedcd9c9
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2025-11-05T00:00:00
set_spec type:ART