“Atypical touch perception in MTS may derive from an abnormally plastic self-representation”

Abstract

Mirror Touch Synesthetes (MTSs) feel touch while they observe others being touched. According to the authors, two complementary theoretical frameworks, the Threshold Theory and the Self-Other Theory, explain Mirror Touch Synesthesia (MTS). Based on the behavioral evidence that in MTSs the mere observation of touch is sufficient to elicit self-other merging (i.e., self-representation changes), a condition that in non-MTSs just elicits self-other sharing (i.e., mirroring activity without self-other blurring), and on the rTPJ anatomical alterations in MTS, we argue that MTS may derive from an abnormally plastic self-representation and atypical multisensory integrative mechanisms.

Additional information

Funding

IB is funded by the Italian Ministry of Health [GR-2011-02351798]. SMA is funded by the EU Information and Communication Technologies [grant FP7-ICT-2009-5; VERE project [257695] and the Italian Ministry of Health [grant RC11.G and RF-2010-2312912].