Digital technology has a direct impact on our human sense of 'self'

Facial recognition plays a crucial role in shaping our self-image and how we interact with others. As digital technology advances, intriguing questions arise about how altering our facial identity impacts our sense of self and social interactions. 

Shunichi Kasahara, a researcher at the Cybernetic Humanity Studio within the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), is currently delving into these questions. His research focuses on real-time morphing of facial images, exploring what happens when our faces are transformed into someone else’s and vice versa. 

Our sense of identity 

Kasahara and his team have been investigating how our sense of identity is influenced by motor-visual synchrony – the coordination between our physical movements and the visual feedback we receive. 

The findings, published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, reveal that whether or not we have control over the movement of our self-image, our identification with our face remains consistent. This suggests that our sense of agency, or the feeling of control over our actions, does not significantly affect how we identify with our own facial image.

Self-identification boundary 

To explore these concepts, the scientists conducted psychological experiments using displays and cameras to determine where the “self-identification boundary” lies and what factors influence this boundary. 

Participants were seated in front of screens showing their faces gradually morphing into another face. At a certain point, participants were asked to press a button when they felt the image no longer resembled them. The experiment was conducted in both directions: morphing from self to other and from other to self.

“It’s like watching your face in a mirror as you move it and you identify yourself, but your face slowly changes up to a point and you realize this is no longer you,” Kasahara explained.

A strong sense of self

The researchers tested how different movement conditions – synchronous, asynchronous, and static – affected the facial identity boundary. 

The experts hypothesized that synchronized movements would lead participants to identify more strongly with the images. However, the results were surprising. 

Whether the movements were synchronized or not, the facial identity boundaries remained similar. Moreover, participants identified more with static images of themselves than with moving images.

Interestingly, the direction of morphing – whether from self to other or vice versa – also influenced participants’ perceptions of their own facial boundaries. They were more likely to identify with their facial image when it morphed from self to other, rather than the reverse. 

Overall, the findings suggest that our sense of agency over facial movements does not significantly impact our ability to recognize our facial identity.

Self identity in the digital age 

“Consider the example of deepfakes, which are essentially a form of asynchronous movement. When I remain still but the visual representation moves, it creates an asynchronous situation. Even in these deepfake scenarios, we can still experience a feeling of identity connection with ourselves,” Kasahara explained. 

“This suggests that even when we see a fake or manipulated version of our image, for example, someone else using our face, we might still identify with that face. Our findings raise important questions about our perception of self and identity in the digital age.”

Testing our sense of agency

But what about the reverse? How does our sense of identity affect our sense of control or agency? In collaboration with Dr. Wen Wen, a psychology professor at Rikkyo University who specializes in research on the sense of agency, Kasahara conducted further experiments. 

The goal was to investigate how recognizing oneself through facial features might influence perceptions of control over one’s movements.

Participants in the experiments observed either their own face or another person’s face on a screen, with the ability to interact and control facial and head movements. They were asked to observe the screen for about 20 seconds while altering their facial expressions and head movements. 

The face on the screen was controlled either entirely by the participant’s own movements or by a combination of the participant’s and the experimenter’s movements (full control vs. partial control). 

Afterward, participants were asked how much the face on the screen resembled them and how much control they felt over the face.

Facial movements and visual identity 

The results were intriguing: participants reported a higher sense of agency over the “other face” rather than their own. Additionally, controlling another person’s face led to a greater variety of facial movements compared to controlling their own face.

“We gave the participants a different face, but they could control the facial movements of this face – similar to deepfake technology, where AI can transfer movement to other objects. This AI technology allows us to go beyond the conventional experience of simply looking into a mirror, enabling us to disentangle and investigate the relationship between facial movements and visual identity,” explained Kasahara.

“Based on previous research, one might expect that if I see my own face, I will feel more control over it. Conversely, if it’s not my face, I might expect to feel less control because it’s someone else’s face. That’s the intuitive expectation.”

However, said Kasahara, the results are the opposite – when people see their own face, they report a lower sense of agency. On the other hand, they are more likely to feel a sense of agency when they see another person’s face. 

These surprising results challenge our previous understanding of how we perceive ourselves in images.

Digital technologies shape our sense of self

Kasahara emphasized that the acceptance of technology in society plays a crucial role in technological advancements and human evolution. 

“The relationship between technology and human evolution is cyclical; we evolve together. But concerns about certain computer technology may lead to restrictions. My goal is to help foster acceptance within society and update our understanding of ‘the self’ in relation to human-computer integration technology,” he said.

As technology continues to evolve, so too does our understanding of identity and control. This research opens new avenues for exploring how digital technologies can shape our sense of self and how we navigate the increasingly blurred boundaries between our physical and digital identities.

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