From Embodiment to Enfacement. Exploring the Role of Technologies for the Manipulation and Creation of Digital Faces in Schizophrenia Research

This paper delves into the potential of technologies for creating and manipulating digital faces in treating symptoms of schizophrenia, such as deficits in recognizing one’s own face and auditory hallucinations. Deficits in recognizing one’s own face are linked to the loss of the self-other boundary, a typical manifestation of schizophrenia that has been experimentally replicated even in healthy subjects through the enfacement illusion. After detailing the phenomenon of enfacement, a thought experiment is proposed in which this illusion is used to allow the schizophrenic patients, through interaction with an avatar, to «re-embody» their own face. Subsequently, the specific aspects of Avatar Therapy, a clinical protocol for treating auditory hallucinations, are examined, highlighting the role of avatars as means of participatory sense-making and embodiment. In the conclusions, the points of continuity between the potential clinical uses of technologies for creating and manipulating digital faces are outlined.