Study of Self-Recognition and Self/Other Distinction Disorders in Patients With Psychological Vulnerability

This study is based on the properties of the double mirror "Alter Ego" which is a device that appears as a double-sided mirror surrounded by light diodes whose intensity can be varied. Thanks to this variation of luminosity, this special paradigm creates morphs between two real subjects seated on both sides, resulting in different faces, each morphed to a varying extent. In this task, participants watch a double mirror in which a picture of their own face gradually transforms into the face of an unfamiliar other (self-to-other direction) or vice versa (other-to-self direction), and indicate at which point they judge the morph to look more like the target face than the starting face. The comparison of the thresholds obtained by different individuals makes it possible to establish whether there could be differences between subjects with psychological vulnerability and healthy controls and to explore hypothetical links between self/other distinction abilities and symptoms of psychological vulnerability .