Body Image, and the Image of the Other's Body
The cybernetic loop of image-into-action.
My daughter was quite surprised the other day when she successfully reached for the handle of a cabinet that she couldn’t reach when she was younger. Her body schema had changed, but her body image hadn’t.
Body schema is how we are “wired up” to interact with the world. Body Image is how we perceive our body. Usually, these two are in sync, but sometimes, as in my daughter’s case, they can drift apart.
I’ve long used visualization to develop motor skills. For example, I might visualize my body’s motion when lifting a weight. My actual performance of the lift is rarely as beautiful as I visualize it.
There is a feedback loop here: the body image provides a guide for the body schema, modifying it. The body schema provides grounding for the body image: what is actually accomplished may reveal that the body image is not plausible.
There are two practical take-home points here:
Modifying the body image can be used to modify and develop the body schema
Without testing the body schema in action, there is no feedback to the body image to keep it grounded in real capabilities
But: you can also stabilize the body image in an unrealistic way to provide an orienting ideal for the body schema. The classic case of this is “follow-through”, where a motion may be imagined going beyond the range of the body in order to create a smoother motion.
The body-mind is extraordinarily complex. Working with the highest-order goals allows the body-mind to solve the problem in ways the rational mind cannot. For example, if you try to consciously walk by getting into details of the motion, you will likely stumble, fall, and be awkward. On the other hand, imagining you are walking in water will change your motion in very subtle ways. The top-down effect of imagination on motion is seen these days when motion-capture actors move and manipulate non-existent objects.
Body image visualizations need not be “realistic” in any way to have an effect on body schema. For example, try walking around imagining your feet are lead weights, or your head is a helium balloon!
Every habit of perception we have modifies our habits of action. Within the body, the body image is our habit of perception, and our body schema is our habits of action. Habits of perception are mutable, and habits of action are also mutable most deeply via modified habits of perception.
Imagination can be playful. Imagination can also distance one from reality. Imagination can also be a way to change how the world is perceived, and so change your actions in it.
I’ll talk more of this soon, but here is the next great secret:
Changing your body image changes your body schema. That is, changing your habits of perception changes your habits of action. But not only that: changing your Image of Others changes your Interaction Schema with Others. Your own body is the place to start, but all bodies are the potential field of exploration.