| Popis: |
Sensorimotor simulation theory offers potential to explain the mechanisms that underpin the ability to recognize others’ emotions. In this vein, recent models propose a key role for the somatosensory cortex (SC) in emotion recognition. In addition, recent evidence suggests that the subjective experience from the perception of a facial expression is linked with responses in the SC but not with responses in the motor cortex. Furthermore, models of sensorimotor simulation converge on the idea that somatosensory representations and visual representations are integrated. Here, we want to test whether somatosensory activity during the perception of facial expressions has a role in conscious processing of such expressions, an issue that has been ignored by previous research. To this aim we will present facial expressions in binocular rivalry, a well-suited paradigm employed in behavioral and neuroimaging studies of conscious visual perception. We expect that congruent tactile facial stimulation with the somatosensory representations of happy expressions will favor the conscious content of happy facial expressions and interfere with conscious processing of neutral expressions compared to the absence of tactile stimulation. |
