Table 2.

Levels, types, contents, and alterations of self-consciousness (based on Damasio et al., 1999; Decety and Sommerville, 2003; Rochat, 2003; Parnas and Henriksen, 2014; Keromnes et al., 2017).

	Consciousness
Levels of consciousness∗	Pre-reflexive consciousness (implicit)	Early appearance, relies on bodily perception
	•Level 1: Differentiation	•Relies on the experience of own bodily movements
	•Level 2: Situation	•Relies on intermodal sensory perception of the own body
	Reflexive consciousness (explicit)	The self is expressed explicitly
	•Level 3: Identification	•Identification of the self in the mirror
	•Level 4: Permanence	•Identification of a permanent self (invariant over time), in pictures and movies
	Self-consciousness (explicit)	Later appearance, relies on mental representations
	•Level 5: “Meta” self-awareness	•Notably, representations of how the child is perceived by others
Types of consciousness	Agency	Consciousness of volition and ownership
	Distinctiveness	Consciousness of uniqueness
	Personal continuity	Consciousness of continuity through time
	Reflection	Consciousness of consciousness
Contents of consciousness	Physical	Physical features
	Active	Action skills
	Psychological	Traits and values
	Social/relational/collective	Social role and membership, reputation, relationship to others
Alterations of self-conscIousness	Presence	The sense of personal experience becomes affected
	Sense of Corporeality	Striking tendency to experience one’ s body predominantly as an object: an increasing experiential distance between subjectivity and corporeality (“disembodiment”)
	Stream of Consciouness	Mental contents become quasi-autonomous (“automatic” thoughts), without ipseity and with a rupture of the stream of thoughts (thoughts may appear as if from nowhere)
	Self-demarcation	Inferential reflection arises as a consequence of a deficient sense of myness
	Solipsism and existential reorientation	To be excessively preoccupied with philosophical, supernatural, or metaphysical themes

^∗Five levels (Rochat, 2003) in contrast to a level zero corresponding to a level of confusion with absence of self-consciousness.