| When people say "I feel your pain," they do not | | | | was to see whether synesthetic and actual touch |
| mean it literally, but certain people really do feel | | | | were confusable in any way," Banissy said in a |
| something that appears to be an extreme form | | | | telephone interview. |
| of empathy, UK researchers said. | | | | He said people with this mirror-touch capability |
| They said watching someone being touched | | | | were faster when the touch they saw was in the |
| triggers the same part of the brain as actual | | | | same location as actual touch. |
| touch, and this connection helps explain how we | | | | "When actual touch and synesthetic touch were in |
| understand what other people are feeling. | | | | different locations, sometimes they would confuse |
| People who experience a tactile sense of touch | | | | the two and report they were touched on both |
| when they see another person being touched - | | | | cheeks. |
| something called mirror-touch synesthesia - was | | | | This confusion did not occur in 20 people without |
| first studied in 2005 in one person. | | | | synesthesia who performed the same |
| But researchers at University College London | | | | experiments. The mirror-touch people also scored |
| have now studied 10 people with the same | | | | higher than others on a questionnaire that |
| condition. "It suggests there is a link between | | | | measured empathy. |
| certain aspects of the tactile system and | | | | "We often flinch when we see someone knock |
| empathy," said Michael Banissy of the university's | | | | their arm, and this may be a weaker version of |
| department of psychology, whose work appears | | | | what these synesthetes experience," Dr Jamie |
| in the journal Nature Neuroscience. | | | | Ward, who led the research team, said in a |
| Banissy and colleagues first did a series of | | | | statement. |
| experiments to authenticate peoples' claims that | | | | Other studies have suggested a link between |
| they felt something when they saw someone | | | | empathy and mirror systems, but Ward said this |
| else being touched. | | | | was the first to suggest empathy involves more |
| They asked the 10 people with mirror-touch | | | | than one mechanism: an emotional gut reaction - |
| synesthesia to identify when they were being | | | | which appears exaggerated in the mirror-touch |
| touched on their own body while watching | | | | synesthetes - and a cognitive process that |
| someone else being touched on the cheek. The | | | | involves thinking about how someone else feels. |
| actual touch was sometimes in the same spot as | | | | "This appears to be the emotional component of |
| the person they watched being touched, and | | | | empathy," Banissy said. "It was purely gut instinct. |
| sometimes it was on the other side. "The idea | | | | |