Self-other control
Capacity to distinguish oneself from others / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In psychology, self-other control, also known as self-other distinction, denotes the capacity to discern between one's own and other individuals' physical and mental states — actions, perceptions, and emotions.[note 1]
The right temporoparietal junction plays an important role in distinguishing the self and others as separate identities. Mental disorders, like schizophrenia and autism-disorder spectrum, have been associated to either excesses or deficits of self-other control. In cases of deficits, symptoms such as motor imitation and emotional contagion might be present; excesses can result in personal distress, paranoia, motor tics and compulsions.
Self-other control is crucial to the process of empathy; it permits to put apart one's thought from the others. When low self-other control is present, transcranial direct-current stimulation and imitation-inhibition training have been suggested as a potential way to augment it.