Using multisensory illusions to test the cause of bodily desires. Bodily sensations (e.g., rumbling stomach) can lead to desire (e.g., hunger). While this may have a psychological basis, it is hard t

Description

Using multisensory illusions to test the cause of bodily desires. Bodily sensations (e.g., rumbling stomach) can lead to desire (e.g., hunger). While this may have a psychological basis, it is hard to test as bodily sensations cannot be ‘made to order’. Our aim is to create illusory bodily sensations, independent of physical state, and test their impact on behaviour (e.g., eating). Understanding bodily desire is significant. It is a key part of motivation, and dysregulated desire is linked to many ills (e.g., over-eating). Expected outcomes are a new way to generate bodily sensations, and a first test of a psychological model of bodily desire. Identifying the basis of bodily desire opens new ways to address its dysregulation, and an ability to create bodily sensation has many uses (e.g., marketing).. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5204 - Cognitive and Computational Psychology. Lead: Prof Richard Stevenson