I recently talked about a guy with synesthesia who assigned feelings and characteristics to a range of numbers (“I Feel Intimidated By The Number 9!”). Today I will again touch this topic, however the focus this time will be on a different phenomenon, a doctor that experiences someone’s tactile sensations when he is seeing these people touch themselves or are being touched by another person.

Joel Salinas (34 years), a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a so-called mirror-touch synesthete making him experience literally the same sensation that another person is feeling. This feeling has always been present for him, “I remember watching cartoons as a kid. … I’d watch Wile E. Coyote, and if he got hit by a truck, I got hit by a truck. Even in high school, I saw a lot of fights, and that was tough.”

However, not only does he feel physical sensations that his patients experience, but is also better able to catch a glimpse into their emotional world. One of his patients, Bob McGrath recalled:

“He is very much in tune with how you’re feeling and how those feelings change over time. When I was in his office for the first time, he said, ‘How are you?’ and I said, ‘I’m OK, but I’m anxious.’ His response was, ‘I know,’ “

For Joel Salinas it took a long time to discover his mirror-touch synesthesia. Before he received the diagnosis, he assumed this phenomenon to be present in everyone. Though he thought of himself to be a weird kid, feeling pain himself if other people in the room experience it, he would consider as something normal. As soon as he began treating patients, he realised to be different in this respect. His story is described in his book.

But what causes this unusual perception in the first place?

To understand this synesthesia, we have to look inside the brain at a neuronal level, more specifically a group of neurons termed the mirror neurons.

These neurons are located in the premotor cortex (a brain area involved in motor functions) and are active when we are performing an action such as raising the right arm. The curious observation however that presented itself to the neuroscientists was that in monkeys the mirror neurons were equally active when they performed a specific action themselves compared to when they were observing another person performing that same action.

According to Marco Iacoboni, mirror neurons are the only brain cells that play a crucial role in coding our own actions and at the same time the actions of others making them essential for social interactions.

In individuals possessing mirror-touch synesthesia, the mirror neuron system is therefore assumed to be constantly on overdrive.

“We often flinch when we see someone knock their arm, and this may be a weaker version of what these synesthetes experience,” said University College London cognitive neuroscientist Jamie Ward.

Would it help us if we kept on studying people with mirror-touch synesthesia?

Marco Iacoboni says yes as he presumes to see a correlation between the adequate functioning of mirror neurons and people exhibiting autism. Patients with autism have difficulty understanding the mental states of other people which is thought to come from reduced mirror neuron activity. Besides the lack of empathy, autistic patients also have problems with motor and language skills which can be explained by the same reduction in mirror neuron functioning.

I picked this case as these synesthetes are a good example in which empathy is particularly high. In this article I just talked about Joel though, which managed to keep his mirror touch synesthesia under control. He states he needs to focus hard whenever a patient is treated so he does not feel “everything”. The ability to maintain such focus however is far from easy. Other mirror-touch synesthetes struggle when interacting with others in general or when watching action movies. Those problems also apply to the case of Joel, however he is able to control the situation and let go.

The whole mirror-neuron theory as such is very fascinating as it opens a new field of research related to any sort of disorders involving social-, motor- and language impairments.

In the next case I will describe a fellow who suddenly forgot how to read.

Until then, have a good Thursday and I see you on Monday when I present you with the next case.

CNN Article

Article by Erika Hayasaki

Interview by Marco Iacoboni