title: Tactile interactions activate mirror system regions in the human brain.
abstract: Communicating with others is essential for the development of a society. Although types of communications, such as language and visual gestures, were thoroughly investigated in the past, little research has been done to investigate interactions through touch. To study this we used functional magnetic resonance imaging. Twelve participants were scanned with their eyes covered while stroking four kinds of items, representing different somatosensory stimuli: a human hand, a realistic rubber hand, an object, and a simple texture. Although the human and the rubber hands had the same overall shape, in three regions there was significantly more blood oxygen level dependent activation when touching the real hand: the anterior medial prefrontal cortex, the ventral premotor cortex, and the posterior superior temporal cortex. The last two regions are part of the mirror network and are known to be activated through visual interactions such as gestures. Interestingly, in this study, these areas were activated through a somatosensory interaction. A control experiment was performed to eliminate confounds of temperature, texture, and imagery, suggesting that the activation in these areas was correlated with the touch of a human hand. These results reveal the neuronal network working behind human tactile interactions, and highlight the participation of the mirror system in such functions.
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology Department, Life Science Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. ayelet.mckyton@mail.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Ayelet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McKyton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult