I feel your fear: shared touch between faces facilitates recognition of fearful facial expressions
Open accessAbstract
Embodied simulation accounts of emotion recognition claim that we vicariously activate somatosensory representations to simulate, and eventually understand, how others feel. Interestingly, mirror-touch synesthetes, who experience touch when observing others being touched, show both enhanced somatosensory simulation and superior recognition of emotional facial expressions. We employed synchronous visuotactile stimulation to experimentally induce a similar experience of "mirror touch" in nonsynesthetic participants. Seeing someone else's face being touched at the same time as one's own face results in the "enfacement illusion," which has been previously shown to blur self-other boundaries. We demonstrate that the enfacement illusion also facilitates emotion recognition, and, importantly, this facilitatory effect is specific to fearful facial expressions. Shared synchronous multisensory experiences may experimentally facilitate somatosensory simulation mechanisms involved in the recognition of fearful emotional expressions.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The enfacement illusion improved recognition of the other's emotions, with a specific increase in sensitivity to fearful facial expressions.
“Effects were also seen in the emotional domain; the enfacement illusion improved recognition of the other's emotions, with a specific increase in sensitivity to fearful facial expressions [34].”
From Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition (2015) · cites this paper as [34]
Enfacement influences social cognition.
“Enfacement also influences social cognition [33,34]”
From Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition (2015) · cites this paper as [34]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A unifying view of the basis of social cognition
GALLESE, V, KEYSERS, C., & RIZZOLATTI, G. (2004) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.07.002 · Cited by 2,236 · see citing works
Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: a relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas
Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M.-C., Mazziotta, J. C., & Lenzi, G. L. (2003) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0935845100 · Cited by 1,978 · see citing works
Niedenthal, P. M. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1136930 · Cited by 1,406 · see citing works
Adolphs, R., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., Cooper, G., & Damasio, A. R. (2000) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.20-07-02683.2000 · Cited by 1,095 · see citing works
My body in the brain: A neurocognitive model of body-ownership.
Tsakiris, M. (2010) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.09.034 · Cited by 1,069 · see citing works
Simulationist models of face-based emotion recognition
Goldman, A. I., & Sripada, C. S. (2005) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2004.01.005 · Cited by 647 · see citing works
Somatosensory activations during the observation of touch and a case of vision–touch synaesthesia
Blakemore, S.-J., Bristow, D., Bird, G., Frith, C., & Ward, J. (2005) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awh500 · Cited by 614 · see citing works
Face to face: blocking facial mimicry can selectively impair recognition of emotional expressions
Oberman, L. M., Winkielman, P., & Ramachandran, V. S. (2007) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470910701391943 · Cited by 477 · see citing works
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Disrupts the Perception and Embodiment of Facial Expressions
Pitcher, D., Garrido, L., Walsh, V., & Duchaine, B. (2008) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1450-08.2008 · Cited by 373 · see citing works
Looking for myself: current multisensory input alters self-face recognition
Tsakiris, M. (2008) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004040 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Synchronous multisensory stimulation blurs self-other boundaries.
Paladino, M.-P., Mazzurega, M., Pavani, F., & Schubert, T. W. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797610379234 · Cited by 297 · see citing works
My face in yours: visuo-tactile facial stimulation influences sense of identity
Sforza, A., Bufalari, I., Haggard, P., & Aglioti, S. M. (2010) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470910903205503 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Asymmetric relationships among perceptions of facial identity, emotion, and facial speech.
Schweinberger, S. R., & Soukup, G. R. (1998) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.24.6.1748 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
A common neural basis for receptive and expressive communication of pleasant facial affect
Hennenlotter, A., Schröeder, U., Erhard, P., Castrop, F., Haslinger, B., Stöcker, D., Lange, K. W., & Ceballos-Baumann, A. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.01.057 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Pourtois, G., Sander, D., Andres, M., Grandjean, D., Reveret, L., Olivier, E., & Vuilleumier, P. (2004) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2004.03794.x · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Happy face advantage in recognizing facial expressions
Kirita, T., & Endo, M. (1995) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/0001-6918(94)00021-8 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Grehl, S., & Tsakiris, M. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040682 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Prevalence, characteristics and a neurocognitive model of mirror-touch synaesthesia
Banissy, M. J., Kadosh, R. C., Maus, G. W., Walsh, V., & Ward, J. (2009) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-009-1810-9 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Accuracy and Latency of Judgment of Facial Expressions of Emotions
Kirouac, G., & Doré, F. Y. (1983) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1983.57.3.683 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Superior Facial Expression, But Not Identity Recognition, in Mirror-Touch Synesthesia
Banissy, M., Garrido, L., Kusnir, F., Duchaine, B., Walsh, V., & Ward, J. (2011) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5759-09.2011 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Frijters, J. E. R. (1979) · British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8317.1979.tb00595.x · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Dessirier, J.-M., & O’Mahony, M. (1998) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/s0950-3293(98)00037-8 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Impact of familiarity upon children's developing facial expression recognition.
Herba, C., Benson, P., Landau, S., Russell, T., Goodwin, C., Lemche, E., Santosh, P., & Phillips, M. (2007) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01835.x · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Zinc status and taste acuity in older Europeans: the ZENITH study
Stewart-Knox, B. J., Simpson, E. E. A., Parr, H. J., Rae, G., Polito, A., Intorre, F., Meunier, N., Andriollo-Sanchez, M., O’Connor, J. M., Coudray, C., et al. (2005) · European Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602295 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Response selection, sensitivity, and taste-test performance
Stillman, J. A. (1993) · Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/bf03211755 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Recognizing expression from familiar and unfamiliar faces
Baudouin, J., Sansone, S., & Tiberghien, G. (2000) · Pragmatics & Cognition · doi:10.1075/pc.8.1.07bau · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Emotional modulation of visual remapping of touch.
Cardini, F., Bertini, C., Serino, A., & Làdavas, E. (2012) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0027351 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Zhang, F., & Parmley, M. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167210388194 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Perception of Facial Expression in Somatosensory Cortex Supports Simulationist Models
Hussey, E., & Safford, A. S. (2009) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5205-08.2009 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition
Niedenthal, P. M., Wood, A., & Rychlowska, M. (2014) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315775845 · Cited by 909 · see citing works
Mentalizing homeostasis: the social origins of interoceptive inference
Fotopoulou, A., & Tsakiris, M. (2017) · Neuropsychoanalysis · doi:10.1080/15294145.2017.1294031 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
The multisensory basis of the self: From body to identity to others
Manos Tsakiris, A. (2016) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2016.1181768 · Cited by 410 · see citing works
Psychedelics, meditation, and self-consciousness
Millière, R., Carhart-Harris, R. L., Roseman, L., Trautwein, F.-M., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475 · Cited by 390 · see citing works
Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition
Maister, L., Slater, M., Sanchez-Vives, M. V., & Tsakiris, M. (2015) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2014.11.001 · Cited by 384 · see citing works
Self-citationFashioning the face: sensorimotor simulation contributes to facial expression recognition
Wood, A., Rychlowska, M., Korb, S., & Niedenthal, P. (2016) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.12.010 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Prosocial Consequences of Interpersonal Synchrony
Rennung, M., & Göritz, A. S. (2016) · Zeitschrift für Psychologie · doi:10.1027/2151-2604/a000252 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Offenders become the victim in virtual reality: impact of changing perspective in domestic violence
Seinfeld, S., Arroyo-Palacios, J., Iruretagoyena, G., Hortensius, R., Zapata, L. E., Borland, D., de Gelder, B., Slater, M., & Sanchez-Vives, M. V. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19987-7 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Your place or mine: Shared sensory experiences elicit a remapping of peripersonal space
Maister, L., Cardini, F., Zamariola, G., Serino, A., & Tsakiris, M. (2015) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.10.027 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Self-citationHeartfelt imitation: high interoceptive awareness is linked to greater automatic imitation
Ainley, V., Brass, M., & Tsakiris, M. (2014) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.05.010 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Herbert, C., Sfärlea, A., & Blumenthal, T. D. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00378 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
The bodily self and its disorders: neurological, psychological and social aspects
Brugger, P., & Lenggenhager, B. (2014) · Current Opinion in Neurology · doi:10.1097/wco.0000000000000151 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Apps, M. A. J., Tajadura‐Jiménez, A., Sereno, M. I., Blanke, O., & Manos Tsakiris, A. (2013) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bht199 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Virtual Body Swap: A New Feasible Tool to Be Explored in Health and Education
de Oliveira, E. C., Bertrand, P., Lesur, M. R., Palomo, P., Demarzo, M., Cebolla, A., Baños, R., & Tori, R. (2016) · Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality (SVR) · doi:10.1109/svr.2016.23 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Hsieh, J., Kunz, W. H., & Wu, A.-Y. (2022) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-09-2021-0691 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Being the victim of virtual abuse changes default mode network responses to emotional expressions
Seinfeld, S., Zhan, M., Solanas, M. P., Barsuola, G., Vaessen, M. J., Slater, M., Sanchez-Vives, M. V., & de Gelder, B. (2020) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.11.018 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Review on Stimuli Presentation for Affect Analysis Based on EEG
Sarma, P., & Barma, S. (2020) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2020.2980893 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Full-Body Ownership Illusion Can Change Our Emotion
Jun, J., Jung, M., Kim, S.-Y., & Kim, K. K. (2018) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3173574.3174175 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Contemplative neuroscience, self-awareness, and education
Berkovich‐Ohana, A., Jennings, P. A., & Lavy, S. (2019) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.015 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Grèzes, J., & Dezecache, G. (2013) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.09.019 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Can Gaze-Contingent Mirror-Feedback from Unfamiliar Faces alter Self-Recognition?
Estudillo, A. J., & Bindemann, M. (2016) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2016.1166253 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Niedenthal, P. M., Wood, A., & Rychlowska, M. (2015) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315775845.ch23 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Food-Induced Emotional Resonance Improves Emotion Recognition
Pandolfi, E., Sacripante, R., & Cardini, F. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167462 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Fear-related signals are prioritised in visual, somatosensory and spatial systems
Bertini, C., & Làdavas, E. (2020) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107698 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
The enfacement illusion boosts facial mimicry
Minio-Paluello, I., Porciello, G., Gandolfo, M., Boukarras, S., & Aglioti, S. M. (2019) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2019.10.001 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Suslow, T., Hußlack, A., Bujanow, A., Henkelmann, J., Kersting, A., Hoffmann, K., Egloff, B., Lobsien, D., & Günther, V. (2019) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.03.059 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
The Enfacement Illusion Is Not Affected by Negative Facial Expressions
Beck, B., Cardini, F., Làdavas, E., & Bertini, C. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136273 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Malleability of the self: electrophysiological correlates of the enfacement illusion
Bufalari, I., Sforza, A. L., Russo, F. D., Mannetti, L., & Aglioti, S. M. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-38213-y · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Multisensory stimulation with other-race faces and the reduction of racial prejudice
Estudillo, A. J., & Bindemann, M. (2016) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2016.04.006 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Meditation-Induced Self-Boundary Flexibility and Prosociality: A MEG and Behavioral Measures Study
Schweitzer, Y., Trautwein, F., Dor‐Ziderman, Y., Nave, O., David, J., Fulder, S. J., & Berkovich‐Ohana, A. (2024) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci14121181 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Estudillo, A. J., Kaufmann, J. M., Bindemann, M., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2018) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.14112 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Remember Hard But Think Softly: Metaphorical Effects of Hardness/Softness on Cognitive Functions
Xie, J., Lü, Z., Wang, R., & Cai, Z. G. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01343 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Threat Perception Captured by Emotion, Motor and Empathetic System Responses: A Systematic Review
Jacobs, E., Deligianni, F., & Pollick, F. E. (2023) · IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing · doi:10.1109/taffc.2023.3323043 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Finke, J. B., Larra, M. F., Merz, M. U., & Schächinger, H. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189028 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Beyond substantiality and illusion: the problem of the self in Buddhist constructivism
Jing, Z., Ping, X., Chen, W., & Dong, D. (2024) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-024-02746-7 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Vicarious Touch: A Potential Substitute for Social Touch During Touch Deprivation
Kirsch, L. P., Mohr, M. V., Koukoutsakis, A., & Fotopoulou, A. (2025) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.70022 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Changes in self-other boundaries modulate children’s body image attitudes
Cook, C., Crucianelli, L., & Filippetti, M. L. (2023) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2023.1181395 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
To see or not to see: the parallel processing of self-relevance and facial expressions
Liu, T., Sui, J., & Hildebrandt, A. (2023) · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-023-00524-8 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Rombout, L. E., & Postma-Nilsenová, M. (2019) · International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction and workshops · doi:10.1109/acii.2019.8925492 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Trust in virtual ingroup or outgroup members relies on perceived self–other overlap
Ma, K., Long, Y., Huang, C., & Hommel, B. (2023) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/17470218231203203 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
大北, 碧., 二瓶正登, 慶太, 西., & 幸祐, 澤. (2018) · 認知科学 · doi:10.11225/jcss.25.392 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
EMOTIONAL IMPACT IN PARENTING ADVERTISEMENTS: INVESTIGATING RESONANCE WITH DIVERSE EMOTIONS
Deng, T., Ibrahim, R., Dahlan, R., Ishak, S. M. M., & Shen, Y. (2024) · International Journal of Education Psychology and Counseling · doi:10.35631/ijepc.953022 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-Resemblance Modulates Processing of Socio-Emotional Pictures in a Context-Sensitive Manner
Finke, J. B., Zhang, X., Best, D., Lass‐Hennemann, J., & Schächinger, H. (2018) · Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1027/0269-8803/a000216 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Affective Touch Shapes the Sense of Trustworthiness of Visually Presented Faces
Marzi, T., Battaglia, E., Castelli, G. C., & Peru, A. (2014) · Florence Research (University of Florence)
The Effect of Touch on Emotion Recognition across Age Groups
Stoloff, H. L. (2013) · Brandeis Institutional Repository
- Authors
- Maister, L., Tsiakkas, E., & Tsakiris, M.
- Affiliations
- University of London (GB)
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2013-02
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-13
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- PMC
- PMC3750639
- OpenAlex
- W2060726415
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 10.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- European Platform for Life Sciences, Mind Sciences and Humanities
- Economic and Social Research Council (RES-061-25-0233)
- European Research Council (ERC-2010-StG-262853)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Keywords
- enfacement illusion, emotion recognition, embodied simulation, self-other boundary, multisensory integration
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Face, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Humans, Illusions, Neuropsychological Tests, Social Perception, Visual Perception, Recognition, Psychology, Touch Perception, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
