from: Written All over His Face- Michele Solis- Scientific American Mind
"mirror-touch synesthesia" is a condition where a person is able to feel something others experience as if it were happening to them instead, simply by watching it happen.
A while ago I read or listened to (i dont really remember) something having to do with mirror neurons and how they activate when an individual is doing a specific activity (like bending down) but also how they activate to a lower level when we are watching someone else performing an activity. Apparently all of our brains do this, but people with mirror-touch synesthesia have more active mirror neurons so the mirror effect when watching someone else experience something is greatly increased and they are able to experience these things as if they were happening to them.
This article talks about a study where they found that people with mirror synesthesia, since they had this heightened ability to simulate someone else's experience were better able to identify emotions from facial expressions. By simulating the experience, they were able to identify what emotion they were feeling, therefore what emotion the subject was feeling.
This article made me think: It must be really awful for someone with mirror-touch synesthesia to watch a horror film. I wonder if they can judge bad acting based on how they experience a film. on the plus side they must be pretty socially adept if they have this facility to be able to understand the thoughts and feelings of others.
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