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Where's Here?

Are we there yet? When the kids were little they used to ask me this question over and over, sometimes even on short cross-town trips for errands. Sometimes I responded with an estimate of how long it would take to "be there". But sometimes when their repeated query became annoying I responded differently: No, of course not! How could we be there if we are here? If they persisted, so did I: No matter where we are it is always "here", and obviously "there" is a different place than here, so we can never be there because we are always here.

But this is a different question: where is here? When I asked my favorite search tool that question it let me know that Joyce Carol Oates wrote a book with a very similar name. That was interesting, but nowhere near the question I want to explore. Perhaps I should rephrase my search query: "locus of perception" yields some more interesting information (like a 2001 article in BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES titled "A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness") but still doesn't answer my question: where is the "here" that we are most familiar with?

My shoes are down on my feet and my hat is up on my head. I perceive sounds as coming from behind me or from the left or the right. My nose I perceive as being in front of me. There seems to be, for me at least, a place in physical space that I consider to be where "me" is; a place from which I reckon the location of everything else. Though that place must be within my head I want to be clear that this question is not about what part(s) of the brain process these perceptions. I merely want to identify the single control point from which I judge the positions of the things I experience.

This "zero point" is neither up nor down, left nor right, fore nor aft. My nose is an inch or two forward of this point, as indeed so are my eyes. My ears are an inch or two left or right of this point. It is roughly halfway between my chin and the top of my head. Here is the locus of perception that I have in mind when I ask "where's here?"

Obviously if I am lying on my back then up and down may be modified, and again if I lie on my belly. We adjust automatically (to some extent) to these changes in posture but it seems to me that my locus of perception still lies somewhere near the center of my head. There is still that place that I reckon as "here".

I expected that the experimental psychology folks would have published a bunch of studies about this issue. Surely I am not the only person to experience the world in this way. Do all people experience this in the same way? Does it matter which cultural environment you live in? Does your physical size cause you to experience it differently? Is "here" for women somewhere closer to their heart? If one is bedridden for long periods of time, or unable to sit and/or stand upright, where then is here?

Entering this ChatGPT prompt: "I'm looking for an individual's locus of perception; the point at the center of all their perceptions of up/down, left/right, and fore/aft." returns this response:

The concept you're describing relates to the individual's "locus of perception" or "point of view," which is often associated with their center of awareness or consciousness. In a more technical sense, this can be referred to as the "egocentric coordinate system," where the individual perceives the world from their own perspective, with their body as the reference point.

In psychology and philosophy, this idea can also connect to concepts like "self-awareness" and "subjective experience," where the individual's perceptions of space and orientation are influenced by their sensory inputs and cognitive processes. In virtual reality and spatial awareness studies, this point is often referred to as the "head or body center," which is crucial for understanding how individuals navigate and interact with their environment.

The same prompt submitted to 03-mini:

What you’re describing is often referred to as the point of subjective perspective or the “locus of perception.” This idea touches on several fields—including philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and psychology—each of which offers its own terminology and interpretation. Here are a few perspectives:

1. Philosophy of Mind:

Philosophers might refer to this as the "subjective point of view" or the "first-person perspective." Essentially, it’s the location (or rather, the experience) from which you perceive the world—the indefinable "center" where your experiences converge.

2. Neuroscientific Perspective:

Neuroscience doesn’t locate perception at a single "point" in the brain. Instead, perception emerges from distributed activity across multiple neural networks. Although we have sensory inputs entering at specific locations (like the retina for vision), the brain integrates these signals to create a coherent experience that is subjectively experienced as coming from a single, unified perspective.

3. Psychological/Phenomenological View:

Some theories propose that there is a phenomenological “self” or an “egocenter” that organizes perception in space (up/down, left/right, fore/aft). This is not a physical point but a conceptual one that accounts for how we experience our existence as being centered within our own bodies and perspectives.

4. Meditation and Eastern Philosophies:

In practices such as meditation, there is sometimes reference to finding the “heart” of perception—a state where the duality of observer and observed dissolves. However, traditional accounts do not locate perception at a particular anatomical point; rather, they guide practitioners to experience a more unified, undivided awareness.

In summary, while it’s tempting to pinpoint a specific location as the center of perception, modern understanding tends to view it as an emergent property of complex brain processes, giving rise to the unified experience of “self” or “I.” There isn’t a simple answer like “it’s in the middle of your head”; rather, it’s the functional integration of sensory and cognitive processes that generate the experience of perspective.

How much variation is there among individuals of their perceived egocenter or locus of perception?

The concept of an egocenter—the perceived point from which we experience the world—is largely considered a subjective and unified phenomenon across most individuals. However, there are some nuances and exceptions worth noting:

1. Neurotypical Experience:

For most people, the egocenter is experienced as a stable, unified point of view centered on their body (often implicitly in the head or heart area). This fundamental organization of spatial perception is remarkably consistent among neurotypical individuals, meaning that differences in the perceived locus are usually subtle or more a matter of introspective nuance rather than dramatic anatomical shifts.

2. Neurological and Psychological Variability:

- Certain neurological conditions or brain injuries can disrupt the normal integration of sensory inputs. For example, in cases of out-of-body experiences or certain dissociative disorders, individuals might report shifts or distortions in the sense of where "self" is located.

- Some research on spatial cognition and body representation (for example, studies on the rubber hand illusion or autoscopic phenomena) suggests that under particular experimental manipulations or pathological conditions, people can experience a temporary shift in the egocenter.

- Variations in interoceptive awareness (the sense of the internal state of the body) and differences in self-processing might also influence how some individuals implicitly locate their egocenter.

3. Cultural and Philosophical Perspectives:

- In some meditative or philosophical traditions, practitioners learn to perceive their egocenter differently. For instance, advanced meditation practices sometimes lead to a diminished sense of a fixed or localized self.

- Although these changes are typically temporary or context-dependent, they highlight that the egocenter may be more malleable than we might assume under normal circumstances.

4. Individual Differences and Subjective Reports:

- While basic sensory processing and integration appear to be conserved across humans, the subjective experience of where one's center of perception resides can vary slightly due to individual differences in body awareness, interoception, and cognitive organization.

- However, these subjective variations are generally not extreme; rather, they are subtle adjustments in how one experiences their sense of self and spatial orientation.

In summary, under ordinary conditions, there is relatively little variation in the perceived egocenter among individuals—it tends to be a unified, stable experience integral to our sense of self. Significant variations tend to appear only under uncommon circumstances, such as neurological disruptions, experimental manipulations, or intentional meditative practices that alter the usual patterns of self-experience.

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