Abstract
Social interactions are influenced by the perception of others as similar or dissimilar to the self. Such judgements could depend on physical and semantic characteristics, such as membership in an ethnic or political group. In the present study we tested whether social representations of the self and of others could affect the perception of touch. To this aim, we assessed tactile perception on the face when subjects observed a face being touched by fingers. In different conditions we manipulated the identity of the shown face. In a first experiment, Caucasian and Maghrebian participants viewed a face belonging either to their own or to a different ethnic group; in a second experiment, Liberal and Conservative politically active participants viewed faces of politicians belonging to their own or to the opposite political party. The results showed that viewing a touched face most strongly enhanced the perception of touch on the observer's face when the observed face belonged to his/her own ethnic or political group.
Highlights
Vision can influence tactile processing [1] and, in particular, visual information pertaining to the body seems specially effective in modulating the perception of touch [2]
Several results indicate that the enhancement of tactile perception due to the vision of the body acts at the level of the primary somatosensory cortex
Effects of face similarity on visual remapping of touch Mean response accuracy to tactile stimuli was computed for each subject in each condition for Experiment 1 and 2
Summary
Vision can influence tactile processing [1] and, in particular, visual information pertaining to the body seems specially effective in modulating the perception of touch [2]. Several results indicate that the enhancement of tactile perception due to the vision of the body acts at the level of the primary somatosensory cortex. TMS over SI abolished the beneficial effect of vision on touch [6]. This effect is ruled by a somatotopic gradient reflecting SI organization [7]: for instance, viewing touch on a part of the body, such as the hand, enhanced somatosensory processing for the viewed body part and for body parts contiguously represented in the SI homunculus, such as the face
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