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When looking over my notes I came across two statements that drew my attention: “there are certain tasks that cannot be accomplished unless the brain has a representation of itself as an object” and “with damage to the neocortex one may lose the ability to perceive and will movement”. With all the suggestions of imagination and ‘filling in’ it got me thinking; I have a distinct idea of myself, as an image and/or feeling that may not be indicative of my present state/body. How is it that I came to for this image in my head? It’s not a direct result of sensory input because I can be looking directly at some part of my body, and have a completely different perception of what I’m actually seeing. I can also picture myself actively moving while sitting here typing this blog, however I sometimes fid it difficult to imagine myself doing a particular act while actually producing the same motion. This self-image or corporeal awareness can obviously be independent of sensory perception, but how then do we go about creating this image, which is constantly changing. Furthermore, if self-image were completely independent of sensory experience why are those images bounded by our perceived reality and not totally outlandish? I can’t say this with any certainty, but the very question suggests that the body/self image is most likely bounded by sensory input, possibly in that the functions that allow us to create an image of ourselves, independent of the ‘outside’ world, were initiated by sensory experience. Therefore what ever comes from those functions must be bounded by what could possibly be perceived. It’s my theory, and this is based on very little, that we begin to develop a corporeal awareness at infants when we mimic the movements and gestures of others.

As for the second citation from our notes, “with damage to the neocortex one may lose the ability to perceive and will movement”, what would be the implications of ones self perceptions with damage to the neocortex, would ones corporeal image permanently change?