School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Cortex. 2013 Jan;49(1):243-51. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.05.002. Epub 2011 Jun 22.
In mirror-touch synaesthesia merely observing another person being touched will cause the observers to experience a touch sensation on their own body. The current study investigates whether this, normally a developmental condition, might be acquired following amputation. Twenty-eight amputees observed 67 videos of touch events and indicated a) whether the video elicited tactile sensations, b) where on the body this was located, c) the intensity of the sensation, and d) whether it was painful. Almost a third of amputees report a tactile sensation on their amputated phantom limb when watching someone else being touched. In this particular group the sensations tend to be localised on the phantom limb or stump, but are rarely reported elsewhere on the body. This occurs irrespective of the body part seen. The synaesthetic sensations were more intense when real bodies were observed relative to dummies or objects, and when the observed touch is mildly painful relative to non-painful. Although frequency, intensity and cause of phantom limb pain do not appear to determine whether an amputee will report mirror-touch sensations, those who do report it show greater empathic emotional reactivity. These results suggest that acquired synaesthesia may be linked with sensory loss, arising after amputation, and that highly empathic individuals could be predisposed to strengthening existing pathways between observed touch and felt touch.
在镜像触摸联觉中，仅仅观察到另一个人被触摸，就会导致观察者自身身体产生触摸感。本研究调查了这种通常是发育性的情况是否可以在截肢后获得。28 名截肢者观察了 67 个触摸事件的视频，并指出：a）视频是否引起了触觉，b）感觉位于身体的哪个部位，c）感觉的强度，以及 d）是否疼痛。近三分之一的截肢者在观看他人被触摸时会报告他们截肢的幻肢有触觉。在这个特定的群体中，感觉往往局限于幻肢或残肢上，但很少在身体其他部位报告。这种情况与所看到的身体部位无关。与假人或物体相比，当观察到真实身体时，联觉感觉更强烈，而与无痛相比，当观察到的触摸轻度疼痛时，联觉感觉更强烈。尽管幻肢疼痛的频率、强度和原因似乎并不能决定截肢者是否会报告镜像触摸感觉，但那些确实报告的人表现出更大的同理心情绪反应。这些结果表明，获得性联觉可能与截肢后出现的感觉丧失有关，而高度同理心的人可能更容易增强观察到的触摸和感觉到的触摸之间现有的联系。
