Mirror-Touch Synesthesia: Feeling All the Feels

This article describes a neurological condition known as mirror-touch synesthesia, a rare disorder
that results in a person feeling the pain or touch that they see another person experience (like
looking in the mirror)!

What is Mirror-Touch Synesthesia?

Imagine you're with a friend and she falls and twists her ankle. All of a sudden, you feel the pain
in your own ankle. Or, you see someone touching their own face and you feel the sensation on
your cheek. These are symptoms of a rare neurological condition known as mirror-touch
synesthesia.
The word synesthesia derives from Greek and means 'joined perception.' People with synesthesia
often experience perceiving something through more than one sense. For example, people might
see a certain color, such as blue, and then smell something distinct, like flowers. Or, let's say you
see you always see the color green when you're thinking about the number five. This is the most
common type of synesthesia, but it can take many different forms. Let's talk specifically about
mirror-touch synesthesia.
Mirror-touch synesthesia is a particular form that involves feeling the sensations other people
feel, as if something were happening to you. It's sort of like looking in a mirror! Researchers are
not exactly sure what causes mirror-touch synesthesia. But, there are few explanations that we'll
discuss in this lesson.

Mirror Neurons
Scientists believe that mirror-touch synesthesia is related to cells located in our brain
called neurons. Neurons are cells that transmit electrical signals throughout our body to help our
brain and spinal cord communicate with the rest of us.
The neurons we're talking about here are found in an area of the brain called the premotor cortex,
which is the part of your brain that is responsible for planning future action. So, if you're about to
reach out and grab something, this part of your brain is activated.
While observing the actions of monkeys, scientists discovered something curious: in some
monkeys, these cells were activated both when a monkey reached out and grasped something and
also when that monkey observed another reaching out to grab something. Because of this mirror-
like action, scientists termed these cells 'mirror neurons'