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About

Piotr Litwin is a cognitive scientist whose research centers on the neurocognitive mechanisms of body ownership and multisensory integration, with a particular focus on the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI). His major contribution lies in challenging the prevailing view that top-down semantic constraints—such as the resemblance of an object to a real hand—are necessary for the illusion to occur. In his most-cited work, “Extending Bayesian Models of the Rubber Hand Illusion” (2019, 22 citations), Litwin proposed a novel Bayesian framework that reinterprets the RHI as a product of predictive coding and sensory uncertainty, rather than comparisons with internal body models. This work, along with his 2018 paper of the same title (2 citations), offers a parsimonious multisensory integration account that explains how the brain can incorporate even non-hand-like objects into the body schema under the right conditions. Litwin’s research has significant implications for understanding body representation in both healthy and clinical populations, and his Bayesian approach has been influential in shaping new experimental paradigms. His work is essential reading for students and researchers interested in the plasticity of body perception and the computational principles underlying self-awareness.