Capturing the imagination: mapping imagery ability across our multidimensional sense of touch

Abstract

Mental imagery relies on modality-specific representations and varies across individuals. The tactile imagery modality remains relatively understudied. Though imagined and actual touch show perceptual and neural overlap, previous work has largely examined specific touch types in isolation. Likewise, imagery ability is often equated with imagery vividness, omitting other imagery processing components. Here we aimed to provide a comprehensive assessment of tactile imagery in terms of touch types (object properties for active touch, different tactile sensations across body sites for passive touch) and imagery processing components. 136 healthy adults imagined various touch types, and rated imagery vividness and their ability to maintain and transform each sensation on 5-point Likert scales. A subsample (N=46) additionally rated pleasantness on Visual Analogue Scales. Overall, most participants reported at least some imagery, though individual variability was substantial. Imagery ability varied significantly across objects and properties, with specific object-property pairs eliciting stronger imagery than others. Imagery was significantly stronger for body sites with higher receptor density (i.e. lip and foot), and imagined stroking was significantly weaker than vibration and pinching. Pinching was significantly less pleasant than stroking and vibration. Pleasantness and imagery ability showed significant positive correlations for active touch and passive stroking. Active and passive imagery ability were strongly positively correlated, as were the imagery processing components. These findings demonstrate that tactile imagery is not a unitary ability. Instead, it varies across individuals and tactile sensations, mirroring the multidimensionality of touch, and underlining the need for comprehensive, modality-specific assessment of tactile imagery ability.