The body provides a fundamental reference frame for perception, cognition, and memory. Yet, the mechanisms that underlie body representations in the brain remain insufficiently characterized. Here, I will first introduce somatotopy as a fundamental organizational principle of the brain, shaping structural architectures and functional networks in health and disease, and will then highlight the relevance of this scheme to understanding human memory. Presented research methodology will span microstructural analyses in mice using ex vivo histology, mesoscale analyses in humans using 7 Tesla MRI, and the characterization of circuit behavior using 3 Tesla MRI in reference to body perception in everyday life, profiled via mobile applications (Apps). I will conclude that the precise characterization of body memory networks in the human brain is critical to understand the complexity of human body perception in everyday life and associated mental and neurological disorders.
