Viewing a Face (Especially One's Own Face) Being Touched Enhances Tactile Perception on the Face

Observing touch on another person's body activates brain regions involved in tactile perception, even when the observer's body is not directly stimulated. Previous work has shown that in some synaesthetes, this effect induces a sensation of being touched. The present study shows that if pe...

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Published inPsychological science Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 434 - 438
Main Authors Serino, Andrea, Pizzoferrato, Francesca, Làdavas, Elisabetta
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01.05.2008
SAGE Publications
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Adult
Body
Brain
Cheek
Electric Stimulation - methods
Empathy
Face
Female
Fingers
Hands
Housing conditions
Human body
Humans
Italy
Male
Observational research
Perception
Perceptual Masking - physiology
Psychology
Reference Values
Research Reports
Sense of touch
Stimulus
Students - psychology
Tactile transducers
Thresholds
Touch
Touch - physiology
Trajectories
Visual information
Visual perception
Visual Perception - physiology
Visual stimulation
Italy
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Summary:Observing touch on another person's body activates brain regions involved in tactile perception, even when the observer's body is not directly stimulated. Previous work has shown that in some synaesthetes, this effect induces a sensation of being touched. The present study shows that if perceptual thresholds are experimentally manipulated, viewing touch can modulate tactile experience in nonsynaesthetes as well. When observers saw a face being touched by hands, rather than a face being merely approached by hands, they demonstrated enhanced detection of subthreshold tactile stimuli on their own faces. This effect was specific to observing touch on a body part, and was not found for touch on a nonbodily stimulus, namely, a picture of a house. In addition, the effect was stronger when subjects viewed their own faces rather than another person's face. Thus, observing touch can activate the tactile system, and if perceptual thresholds are manipulated, such activation can result in a behavioral effect in nonsynaesthetes. The effect is maximum if the observed body matches the observer's body.
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ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02105.x