Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e48293. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048293. Epub 2013 Jan 11.
The observation of conspecifics influences our bodily perceptions and actions: Contagious yawning, contagious itching, or empathy for pain, are all examples of mechanisms based on resonance between our own body and others. While there is evidence for the involvement of the mirror neuron system in the processing of motor, auditory and tactile information, it has not yet been associated with the perception of self-motion.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated whether viewing our own body, the body of another, and an object in motion influences self-motion perception. We found a visual-vestibular congruency effect for self-motion perception when observing self and object motion, and a reduction in this effect when observing someone else's body motion. The congruency effect was correlated with empathy scores, revealing the importance of empathy in mirroring mechanisms.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The data show that vestibular perception is modulated by agent-specific mirroring mechanisms. The observation of conspecifics in motion is an essential component of social life, and self-motion perception is crucial for the distinction between the self and the other. Finally, our results hint at the presence of a "vestibular mirror neuron system".
观察同类会影响我们的身体感知和行为：传染性打哈欠、传染性瘙痒或对疼痛的同理心，都是基于我们自身身体和他人之间共鸣的机制的例子。虽然有证据表明镜像神经元系统参与了运动、听觉和触觉信息的处理，但它尚未与自我运动感知联系起来。
方法/主要发现：我们研究了观察自己的身体、他人的身体和运动中的物体是否会影响自我运动感知。我们发现，当观察自己和物体的运动时，自我运动感知存在视觉-前庭一致性效应，而当观察他人的身体运动时，这种效应会减弱。这种一致性效应与同理心分数相关，揭示了同理心在镜像机制中的重要性。
结论/意义：数据表明，前庭感知受到特定于主体的镜像机制的调节。观察运动中的同类是社交生活的重要组成部分，而自我运动感知对于区分自我和他人至关重要。最后，我们的结果暗示存在一个“前庭镜像神经元系统”。
