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Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans
Published on: March 15, 2019
Viewing one's own face being touched modulates tactile perception: an fMRI study
Flavia Cardini1, Marcello Costantini, Gaspare Galati
1University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|March 31, 2010
Summary
Observing touch modulates tactile perception, especially when viewing one's own face. This visual remapping of touch (VRT) involves fronto-parietal brain networks, impacting somatosensory cortex activity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Multisensory Integration
- Somatosensory Perception
Background:
- Tactile perception is influenced by visual input.
- The visual remapping of touch (VRT) effect is strongest when observing one's own face being touched.
- The neural underpinnings of VRT remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural basis of the visual remapping of touch (VRT) effect using fMRI.
- To determine how observing touch, particularly on one's own face, modulates tactile perception.
- To identify brain regions involved in VRT.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
- Participants received tactile stimuli on their cheeks while viewing videos of their own face, another person's face, or a touched/approached ball.
- Behavioral responses distinguished unilateral from bilateral tactile stimulation.
Main Results:
- Behaviorally, tactile perception was modulated by visual touch, with a stronger effect when viewing one's own face.
- fMRI revealed enhanced activity in the ventral intraparietal area when viewing touch.
- Viewing touch on oneself specifically reduced activity in the ventral premotor cortex and somatosensory cortex.
Conclusions:
- VRT is supported by a fronto-parietal network.
- The ventral intraparietal area may integrate visual touch information with tactile processing.
- Ventral premotor cortex and somatosensory cortex modulation suggest self-representation in multisensory processing.
Related Concept Videos
01:33Somatosensation
The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
01:14Brain Imaging
Brain imaging technologies provide critical insights into both the structure and function of the human brain, enabling medical professionals and researchers to diagnose, study, and treat neurological disorders or psychiatric disorders more effectively.
These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).
These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).