Feeling Everyone's Pain and Pleasure

Did you know that some people may have an unstoppable physical reaction to seeing violence or touch of any kind? In a new study at the University College London, a group of individuals exhibited the rare ability to feel the physical sensations of another person- you touch his arm, she feels the sensation in the same part of her arm too. The condition is called mirror-touch synesthesia.

Synesthesia occurs when a person experiences an unusual combination of senses at the same time. The particular sensations are different in each case. Someone might experience a mixture of taste and shape *That steak was very prickly!* or sight and sound. Numbers, letters, or notes correspond to colors like this: 5, 8, 10, a, b. Unlike reported LSD experiences, the phenomenon isn't temporary and the synesthete is born with this genetic condition.

What makes this particular form of synesthesia even more interesting is the combination of empathy and touch. Our mirror neurons are thought to be active in humans and other animals when we experience empathy, this explains "mirror-touch synesthesia."

This Science Now article, "My Brain Feels Your Brain" summarizes the study in which several people had mirror-touch synesthesia.

"They had the individuals and members of a control group report where they felt a touch on their bodies while observing another person being touched. During the task, an actual touch was applied to their bodies as well--either at the same location as the person being observed or at a different location. The researchers found that mirror-touch synesthetes were quicker at detecting actual touch when it was applied to the same location as that of the person they were watching. They were also more likely than control subjects to report a synesthetic touch as a real touch."

Even I thought it was painful to watch the foot breaking scene in "Misery" but could you imagine what it might be like for some of these people? Do they lose their heads every time a Stephen King character slashes a throat? The subjects weren't given a special horror/gore movie test as far as I know. On the bright side, what if they feel the effects of a massage just by watching?