Rethinking the extrastriate body area: from body perception to action priors
Abstract
Perception of bodies underpins social cognition, action, and self-representation, and is often attributed to the extrastriate body area (EBA). Building on recent data, we argue that the function of the EBA goes beyond body perception. We propose that the EBA operates within a predictive, distributed architecture, encoding body-related priors that have been shaped by evolution and experience, and that bias ongoing behavior. Evidence from multivariate analyses and resting-state dynamics suggests that body representations are flexible, shared across categories, and not confined to a single locus. Accordingly, the EBA is better understood as a dynamic node supporting context-dependent behavior rather than a specialized module.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Action Observation and Synchronization
Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Face Recognition and Perception
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 6
- Publication date
- 1 June 2026
- Language
- EN