Vicarious experiences of touch (mirror touch) in a Chinese sample: Cross-cultural and individual differences

Abstract

Mirror-touch synaesthesia (MTS) refers to tactile sensations people have on their own body when they see another person being touched. This trait has been linked to individual differences in computing body awareness and ownership (e.g., on questionnaires, cognitive tests) as well as differences in the brain. Here it is assessed for the first time in a non-Western (Chinese) population. Study 1 shows that reports of mirror-touch are elevated in a Chinese sample (N = 298) relative to comparable Western samples shown identical stimuli. In other respects, they are qualitatively similar (e.g., showing a difference between whether humans or inanimate objects are touched) and, overall, these differences could not be attributed to an acquiescence bias. The Chinese sample also completed a battery of questionnaires relating to body awareness and social-emotional functioning including mental health (Study 2) and had participated in brain imaging (the structural scans were analysed using voxel-based morphometry in Study 3). Participants reporting higher levels of mirror touch reported higher levels of anxiety. There were no reliable differences in the VBM analysis. It is suggested instead that cross-cultural differences in embodied cognition can manifest themselves in different rates of vicarious experience such as mirror touch.