The origins and emergence of self-representation

Abstract

Although a reflective self-awareness is often considered to be the pinnacle of human consciousness, it takes time to develop and behaviours indicating a conceptual self-representation appear only towards the end of the second year of life. How it develops has been the subject of much speculation, but little empirical data has targeted causal mechanisms. I first review early behaviours that likely do and do not indicate a reflective self-awareness. I then draw on data indicating a continuity between bodily and conceptual self-awareness, suggesting that the key to understanding how a reflective self-awareness develops is to look for its origins in a bodily self, and in the earliest available signals of self-origin. Considering data from adult cognitive neuroscience, I review mechanisms that could exploit early visceral cues and represent them as belonging to the self, and the role that caregiver-infant interactions may play in this process. I conclude by considering how cross-cultural differences in the emergence of a self-concept provide important insights into the mechanisms that develop self-awareness.