Behavioral, neuroimaging and phenomenological evidence of the minimal-bodily self.

The quest to understand the nature of the “self” has been a fundamental goal of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science for centuries. Numerous definitions have been proposed, each attempting to elucidate what the self is in slightly different contexts. One of the most acknowledged models, in contemporary psychological and neuroscientific studies, defines the influential distinction between the narrative-cognitive dimension of the self and the bodily-affective dimension. In our systematic review, we provide an overview of the evidences gathered on the nature of the minimal-bodily self. We used the PRISMA method, which yielded over 208 experimental clinical and non-clinical articles between the phenomenological, behavioral, and neuroscientific domains. Neurocognitive, psychological, psychiatric and contemplative studies were consequently gathered and analyze. Such effort allowed us to frame the problem of the self in a new, exhaustive, and multidisciplinary manner. Our results highlight the role of emotion in the emergence of the bodily self, specify whether the self can be framed as a neural, functional organization of the brain, and addresses the issue of whether the bodily self can be defined as graded in nature, or an all-or-none phenomenon. Lastly, we draw conclusions regarding the nature of bodily self and posit some outstanding questions regarding the future inquiry of this fascinating field of research.