The role of visual perspective on self-touch perception : An exploratory study of somatosensory attenuation

Whenever you touch yourself, that touch feels distinctly different from when someone else touches you. In particular, self-generated touch is perceived as less intense. This is a phenomenon called somatosensory attenuation. Touch to the self, regardless of self- or other generated, is perceived through a first-person perspective, whereas touch to other is perceived through a third-person perspective. The present study aimed to explore how self-touch is perceived when the self is observed through other perspectives. Here it was found that self-touch in a mirror and third-person perspective lowers the sense of ownership of the observed hand, as well as the agency of the touch. In particular, the sense of ownership and agency were lower in the third-person perspective relative to mirror perspective. Further, no qualitative differences in touch perception were observed across the three perspectives. There was no relationship between the sense of ownership and agency, and these qualitative differences. Lastly, there were no correlations between either of these experimental aspects (ownership, agency, qualitative) and autism traits and self-reported interoceptive abilities. The present study extends the knowledge and understanding of self-touch, and how visual perspective influences. The present study also highlights areas of applications, such as immersive virtual reality and clinical research