Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mirror-touch synesthesia is linked with empathy

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

From Nature Neuroscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Watching another person being touched activates a similar neural circuit to actual touch and, for some people with 'mirror-touch' synesthesia, can produce a felt tactile sensation on their own body. In this study, we provide evidence for the existence of this type of synesthesia and show that it correlates with heightened empathic ability. This is consistent with the notion that we empathize with others through a process of simulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Participants were required to report the site on which they were actually touched (that is, left cheek, right cheek, both cheeks or no touch) while ignoring observed touch (and the synesthetic touch induced by it).
Figure 2: Behavioral correlates of mirror-touch synesthesia.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rizzolatti, G. et al. Brain 119, 593–609 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Buccino, G. et al. Eur. J. Neurosci. 13, 400–404 (2001).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Blakemore, S.J. et al. Brain 128, 1571–1583 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Keysers, C. et al. Neuron 42, 335–346 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Singer, T. et al. Science 303, 1157–1162 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wicker, B. et al. Neuron 40, 655–664 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Gallese, V. & Goldman, A. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2, 493–501 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Gazzola, V., Aziz-Zadeh, L. & Keysers, C. Curr. Bio. 16, 1824–1829 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Dapretto, M. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 9, 28–30 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Oberman, L.M. et al. Brain Res. Cog. Brain Res. 24, 190–198 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Oberman, L.M. & Ramachandran, V.S. Psych. Bulletin 133, 310–327 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Baron-Cohen, S. et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 358, 361–374 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lawrence, E.J. et al. Psychol. Med. 34, 911–924 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lawrence, E.J. et al. Neuroimage 29, 1173–1184 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

M.J.B. is supported by an Economic and Social Research Council studentship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H OAP, UK

    Michael J Banissy & Jamie Ward

Authors
  1. Michael J Banissy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jamie Ward
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.J.B. conducted the experiments. J.W. devised the concept. The authors contributed equally in all other respects.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael J Banissy.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1

Relationship between percentage of mirror-touch errors across each behavioural measure and scores on the emotional reactivity subscale of the EQ. (PDF 55 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Participant details for the ten cases of mirror-touch synaesthesia. (PDF 40 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Mean reaction times (± SD) on human trials within the faces experiment when control data was assigned to anatomical or specular spatial congruence according to the direction of difference between incongruent and congruent trials. (PDF 37 kb)

Supplementary Table 3

Mean reaction times (± SD) when discriminating the location of tap given to the left hand or right hand on left-right discrimination control blocks. (PDF 37 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 88 kb)

Supplementary Results (PDF 90 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Banissy, M., Ward, J. Mirror-touch synesthesia is linked with empathy. Nat Neurosci 10, 815–816 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1926

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1926

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation