Volume 19, Issue 1 (7-2024)                   bjcp 2024, 19(1): 112-126 | Back to browse issues page

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An Overview of the Challenges in Describing the Exact Demarcation of the Body Schema
Zahra Kholusi1 , Hasan Ashayeri *2 , Shiva Dolatabadi3 , Alireza Afshani4 , Mohsen Saeeidmanesh5
1- Ph.D. Student in General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Science and Arts University, Yazd,Iran
2- Professor, Department of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. , ashayerih.neuroscientist@yahoo.com
3- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Allameh Tabatabaei University of Tehran, Iran
4- Professor, Sociology Department, Social Sciences Faculty, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran
5- Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Science and Arts University, Yazd, Iran
Abstract:   (1557 Views)
The body schema, as a foundational construct in cognitive science, psychology, and neuropsychology, plays a key role in regulating motor functions, spatial perception, and body–mind integration. To achieve a comprehensive and applicable understanding of the body schema, it is essential to develop an integrative and interdisciplinary framework that coherently incorporates sensory-motor, cognitive, and phenomenological dimensions. In this context, conceptual overlaps between body schema, body image, and body representation have led to theoretical ambiguities and fragmentation within the scientific literature.The present study aims to systematically examine the conceptual challenges involved in delineating these constructs within the broader discourse of embodied cognition and to identify the theoretical and empirical foundations of the body schema.This research employed a systematic review approach based on PRISMA guidelines. Relevant sources were retrieved from national and international academic databases between 1971 and 2025 (corresponding to 1382–1404 in the Iranian calendar) using keywords related to the body schema. From an initial pool of 64 articles, 10 studies—both empirical and theoretical—met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were selected for final analysis.Overall, the reviewed studies indicate that the body schema is not a static or purely biological construct but a dynamic structure continually shaped and updated through interactions between the body, environment, socio-cultural history, and lived experience. This theoretical trajectory underscores the need for a multilayered, interdisciplinary approach—one that incorporates phenomenology, neuroscience, psychology, and the social sciences—to achieve a precise and functional conceptualization of the body schema.
Article number: 9
Keywords: Body schema, Schema, Social body schema
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Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2024/06/26 | Revised: 2025/07/24 | Accepted: 2025/07/24 | ePublished ahead of print: 2025/09/18 | Published: 2026/01/16
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