Looking for myself: interactions between multisensory integration and recognition of one's own face

The question of individual identity lies at the heart of human psychology. The most distinguishing physical feature of most individuals is the face. My face belongs to me and is part of my identity, and at the same time is a seat of multisensory experience. How do I know the person I see in the mirror is really me? Is it because I know the person looks like me, as accounts of visual face perception might suggest, or is it because the mirror reflection moves when I move, and I see it being touched when I feel touch myself, as accounts of body representation might suggest? Or is it a combination of both, and how is this combination determined? The project will formally address, for the first time, the specific contribution of multisensory integration of vision, touch and movement for self-face recognition in normal adult participants. A series of psychological experiments will investigate the ability to recognise one’s own face using face-morphing techniques before and after multisensory stimulation. The aim is to understand the interaction between a transient sense of self based on current multisensory inflow, and a more permanent sense of self-identity based on representations of one’s own face.