Impact Conference Series "Embodiment and Sensorimotor Recalibration Across Robotic and Virtual Bodies"

How does the brain adapt when the body through which we act no longer follows its usual sensorimotor rules?
In this joint presentation, we explore how embodiment in robotic telepresence and immersive virtual reality reshapes body and space representations.
First, Anne-Lise Jouen will present robotic telepresence studies in which participants are embodied in a humanoid robot viewed from a first-person perspective. Combining action observation and motor imagery, these studies show that simply intending and imagining an action is sufficient to reshape peripersonal space and body schema, even without overt movement execution, highlighting the central role of intentional motor processes in embodiment and sensorimotor plasticity.
Building on these findings, Léo Guérin will examine how the brain adapts when identical movements produce different consequences depending on spatial context. Using immersive virtual reality and spatially asymmetric visuomotor mappings, this work reveals a dynamic reorganization of action-perception coupling across space.
Together, these studies show how embodiment through technology continuously reshapes the boundary between body, action, and environment.