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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

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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.
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Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

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The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at...
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Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System01:11

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

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The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the...
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Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways01:29

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

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Somatic sensory or somatosensory pathways refer to the neural pathways that carry information related to touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and proprioception from the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints to the brain. These pathways involve several stages of processing and integration of sensory information.
The somatosensory system is divided into three main pathways: the dorsal (or posterior) column-medial lemniscus, spinothalamic (or anterolateral), and spinocerebellar pathways.
The dorsal...
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Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

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The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex....
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Major Somatic Sensory Pathways01:28

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

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Sensory impulses related to touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception from various body parts, such as the limbs, trunk, neck, and posterior head, travel to the cerebral cortex through the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway. The pathway’s name derives from the two white-matter tracts that convey the impulses: the spinal cord's posterior column and the brainstem's medial lemniscus. First-order sensory neurons extend their axons into the spinal cord, forming the...
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Testing Tactile Masking between the Forearms
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Sharing social touch in the primary somatosensory cortex.

Nadia Bolognini1, Angela Rossetti1, Martina Fusaro2

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milano, Italy; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Via Mercalli 32, 20122 Milano, Italy.

Current Biology : CB
|June 24, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Mirror-touch synesthesia, where seeing touch causes feeling it, can be induced in people without the condition. Priming the somatosensory cortex (SI) with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while observing touch makes the unseen felt.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Social Cognition

Background:

  • Touch is vital for social perception and empathy.
  • Mirror-touch synesthesia involves feeling touch on oneself when observing it on others.
  • This phenomenon may relate to social mirror mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if mirror-touch phenomena can be induced in non-synesthetes.
  • To explore the role of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) in vicarious touch perception.
  • To examine the link between empathy and the neural processing of observed touch.

Main Methods:

  • Used facilitatory paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) to prime the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and posterior parietal cortex.
  • Stimulation was contingent upon observing touch on another person.
  • Assessed individual empathic abilities using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index.

Main Results:

  • Mirror-touch interference effects, synesthesia-like sensations, and phantom touches were induced in non-synesthetes.
  • The SI was engaged approximately 150 ms after the visual onset of touch.
  • Individual differences in empathy correlated with SI activity during touch observation.

Conclusions:

  • Vicarious touch perception and mirror-touch phenomena can be experimentally induced in non-synesthetes.
  • The primary somatosensory cortex (SI) plays a crucial role in processing observed touch, even below conscious awareness.
  • Empathic abilities influence the neural processing of observed touch, suggesting a mechanism for empathic somatosensation sharing.