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Mirror-touch synaesthesia: Difficulties inhibiting the other
Idalmis Santiesteban1, Geoffrey Bird2, Oliver Tew3
1Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.
Summary
Individuals with mirror touch synaesthesia (MTS) experience touch when seeing others touched. Research suggests MTS is linked to difficulties inhibiting self-other representations, specifically in imitation tasks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Cognition
Background:
- Mirror touch synaesthesia (MTS) is a rare condition where individuals feel touch on their own body when observing it on others.
- A proposed link exists between MTS and atypical self-other representation.
- Understanding this link can illuminate typical social cognition processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between mirror touch synaesthesia and social cognition.
- To determine if MTS is associated with specific impairments in self-other representation.
Main Methods:
- Tested participants with MTS and non-synaesthete controls on a battery of social cognition tests.
- Assessed abilities including imitation-inhibition, visual perspective taking, and theory of mind.
Main Results:
- The MTS group demonstrated significant impairment in imitation-inhibition compared to controls.
- No significant differences were found between groups in visual perspective taking or theory of mind.
- Findings suggest a specific deficit in inhibiting representations of others in MTS.
Conclusions:
- Mirror touch synaesthesia is associated with a specific deficit in the ability to inhibit representations of other individuals.
- This highlights the distinct processes involved in social cognition, particularly the control of self-other representations.
- The findings contribute to understanding the fractionability of social cognitive abilities.
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