Enhanced self-reported affect and prosocial behaviour without differential physiological responses in mirror-sensory synaesthesia.

ABSTRACT: Mirror-sensory synaesthetes mirror the pain or touch that they observe in other people on their own bodies. This type of synaesthesia has been associated with enhanced empathy. We investigated whether the enhanced empathy of people with mirror-sensory synesthesia influences the experience of situations involving touch or pain and whether it affects their prosocial decision making. Mirror-sensory synaesthetes (N = 18, all female), verified with a touch-interference paradigm, were compared with a similar number of age-matched control individuals (all female). Participants viewed arousing images depicting pain or touch; we recorded subjective valence and arousal ratings, and physiological responses, hypothesizing more extreme reactions in synaesthetes. The subjective impact of positive

SUBMITTER: Ioumpa K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6834009 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature