the other in me: interpersonal multisensory stimulation changes the mental representation of the self

Mirror self-recognition is a key feature of self-awareness. Do we recognize ourselves in the mirror because we remember how we look like, or because the available multisensory stimuli (eg, felt touch and vision of touch) suggest that the mirror reflection is me? Participants saw an unfamiliar face being touched synchronously or asynchronously with their own face, as if they were looking in the mirror. Following synchronous, but not asynchronous, stimulation, and when asked to judge the identity of morphed pictures of the two faces, participants assimilated features of the other's face in the mental representation of their own face. Importantly, the participants' autonomic system responded to a threatening object approaching the other's face, as one would anticipate a person to respond to her own face being threatened. Shared multisensory experiences between self and other can change representations of one's identity and the perceived similarity of others relative to one's self.