Keynote, Research, and Symposia Abstracts from the 2019 Congress of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society

Abstract

We take a novel interpersonal and multimodal approach to characterize the self-reported intensity and distribution of erogenous zones, mapped both on one’s own body and on an imagined partner’s body in response to being touched but also being looked at. Here we show the presence of a multimodal erogenous mirror between sexual partners, as we observed clear correspondences between individuals’ topographic distributions of erogenous zones on their own and their partners’ bodies, as well as between those elicited by touch and vision. The erogenous body is therefore organized and represented in an interpersonal and multisensory way. The implications of this organization are discussed in relation to current neuropsychoanalytic models of body-awareness.