Can people feel the pain of others?
Perhaps you’ve seen someone bump their head or stub a toe and thought, “That had to hurt.” Well, for some people, watching such an event actually does hurt. An unknown number of people have mirror-touch synesthesia, a condition that causes them to feel the touches that they see others receive. For example, if a mirror-touch synesthete sees someone touched on the cheek, she will feel as if her own cheek has been touched. Like the name implies, there is a mirror effect involved. Say a mirror-touch synesthete is standing opposite someone. If the non-synesthete is hit in the right arm, the synesthete will feel it in her left arm. If the two are standing next to each other, contact with the non-synesthete’s right arm will be felt in the synesthete’s right arm. Mirror-touch synesthesia is believed to be caused in part by mirror neurons, which produce an extremely developed sense of emotional empathy. Mirror neurons activate when an indi
