title: Mirror Neurons and Mirror-Touch Synesthesia.
abstract: Since mirror neurons were introduced to the neuroscientific community more than 20 years ago, they have become an elegant and intuitive account for different cognitive mechanisms (e.g., empathy, goal understanding) and conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorders). Recently, mirror neurons were suggested to be the mechanism underlying a specific type of synesthesia. Mirror-touch synesthesia is a phenomenon in which individuals experience somatosensory sensations when seeing someone else being touched. Appealing as it is, careful delineation is required when applying this mechanism. Using the mirror-touch synesthesia case, we put forward theoretical and methodological issues that should be addressed before relying on the mirror-neurons account.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.|2 Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Linkovski
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Naama
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Katzin
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.|3 Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.|4 Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Moti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000080311:Synesthesia; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: F5; mirror neurons; mirror touch; motor cortex; synesthesia; threshold theory