Can we tell where our bodies end and the external world begins? Evidence for precise three-dimensional internal body models

Abstract

Distinguishing our body from the external world is crucial for self-perception and environmental interaction. Yet, the accuracy with which we perceive this boundary remains underexplored. Here, we developed a psychophysical protocol to assess how accurately individuals perceive their body boundaries. Participants were asked whether the midpoint between two tactile stimuli was inside or outside their perceived body boundary. Three-dimensional scans provided objective anatomical boundaries, allowing psychometric functions to be fitted. Results revealed remarkable overall precision, often within millimetres, in localizing body boundaries across multiple body regions. However, accuracy varied: while palm boundaries were localized nearly perfectly, stimuli along the wrist boundaries were frequently misjudged as extending beyond their true anatomical limit, revealing a systematic perceptual bias. Perceptual judgements adapted to changes in posture, but accuracy declined when the detailed local three-dimensional structure was omitted, indicating that proprioceptive cues are combined with detailed local body models. Finally, participants whose anatomy deviated from the average tended to align their responses with a typical body model rather than their unique physiology, suggesting that top-down processes influence boundary judgements. Our findings suggest that body boundary representation combines detailed three-dimensional body models with proprioceptive feedback into an integrated perceptual model of the anatomical body.