Main goals

The aim of our research is to better understand the relationships between body perception and consciousness in healthy people as well as in patients suffering from chronic pain and neurological conditions.

Group members and their position

Nathan Evans, PhD, PostDoc
Oliver Bühler, Masterstudent
Raphale Oberson, Masterstudent

Previous and current research

Investigating the link between multisensory body perception and self-consciousness with a focus on interoceptive awareness with EEG and MRI. Using the findings from cognitive neuroscience regarding the systematic manipulation of body perception in order to treat patients with conditions such as chronic pain.

Future projects

• Assessing the neural correlates of subjective symptom burden in patients with AF using VBM
• Testing the interoceptive predictive coding model of conscious
  presence using EEG
• Virtual reality as a new therapeutic tool for chronic pain – An interdisciplinary and translational approach

Techniques / methods

EEG, Morphometry, Virtual reality, Algometry

Equipment

• EEG
• Virtual reality (VR) platform

Selected publications

• Heydrich, L*, Aspell, JE*, Marillier, G, Lavanchy, T, Herbelin, B, Blanke, O. Cardio-visual full body illusion alters bodily self-consciousness and tactile processing in somatosensory cortex. Scientific reports. 2018 June 18. 8:9230

• Heydrich, L, Marillier, G, Evans, E, Blanke, O, Seeck, M. Lateralising value of experiential hallucinations in temporal lobe epilepsy. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (JNNP). 2015. Nov;86(11):1273-6. [IF 6.4, JI 0.99]

• Perren, F, Heydrich, L, Blanke, O, Landis, T. ”Crossed” Somatoparaphrenia: An unusual new case and a review of the literature. Exp Brain Res. 2015 Jan;233(1):175-9. [IF 2.0, JI 0.34]

• van Elk, M, Lenggenhager, B, Heydrich, L, Blanke, O. Suppression of the auditory N1-component for heartbeat-related sounds. Biological Psychology. 2014 May; 99:172-82.

• Heydrich, L, Blanke, O. Distinct illusory own-body perceptions caused by damage to posterior insula and extrastriate cortex. Brain. 2013. Mar;136(Pt 3):790-803. [IF 10.2, JI 0.95]

• Aspell, JE*, Heydrich, L*, Marillier, G, Lavanchy, T, Herbelin, B, Blanke, O. Turning body and self inside out: Visualized heartbeats alter bodily self-consciousness. Psychological Science. 2013. Dec;24(12):2445-53.

• Ionta S*, Heydrich L*, Lenggenhager B, Mouthon M, Fornari E, Chapuis D, Gassert R, Blanke O. Multisensory Mechanisms in Temporo-Parietal Cortex Support Self-Location and First-Person Perspective. Neuron. 2011 April; 70(2): 363-74.

  * shared first authorship

Selected lectures, seminars, colloquia

Benesco lectures on consciousness and body perception

Funding

UniBE ID Grant, Cogito Foundation