Primary somatosensory cortex and Hebbian associative learning: a novel cross-modal Paired Associative Stimulation (PAS) protocol
An increasing number of evidence suggests the existence of a Tactile Mirror System in the human brain: the same cortical network implicated in tactile perception, which comprises the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), also responds to the mere observation of tactile events. It has been suggested that such cross-modal, mirror-like, responses of S1 may arise from Hebbian associative plasticity: the contingency of seeing a touch and the feeling of a tactile sensation on one’s own body may reinforce synapses between visual and somatosensory neurons.