How bodily perception parallels distal perception

Abstract

Abstract Bodily perception is standardly contrasted with distal perception. In this paper, I argue that the standard view overlooks a significant respect in which bodily perception parallels distal perception. The parallel is motivated by a comparison between two cross-modal illusions. The ventriloquism effect manifests cross-modal relations between the distal senses of vision and audition and multi-sensory experiences jointly constituted by vision and audition. Thermal referral is a laboratory induced illusion that involves the bodily sensory systems underlying the perception of pressure and heat. I argue that thermal referral indicates the presence of cross-modal relations and multi-sensory experiences of a type sufficiently similar to those manifested by the ventriloquism effect to suggest that pressure and thermal perception parallel vision and audition at the level of bodily perception.