Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia

Individuals with mirror-touch synaesthesia report consciously feeling tactile sensations on their own body when they see another person being touched. They have what may be called vicarious tactile sensations. Vicarious tactile sensations may almost seem unbelievable. How could one feel from the inside someone else’s sensations? First, I will focus on the intersubjective dimension of vicarious touch. In particular, I will examine whether it constitutes a kind of empathy. I will then argue that vicarious touch cannot be taken as evidence in favour of embodied social cognition. Second, I will focus on the intermodal dimension of vicarious touch. I will show how it differs from standard cases of idiosyncratic synaesthesia. I will then argue that it is a by-product of the multimodal nature of non-vicarious bodily experiences.