Photo: Bodily topography of basic (Upper) and nonbasic (Lower) emotions associated with words. The body maps show regions whose activation increased (warm colors) or decreased (cool colors) when feeling each emotion. The color bar indicates the t-statistic range.
As most of my readers know I am always interested in findings in science can sometimes shed new light on knowledge found in TCM. Here is one such case where there may be some linkages to how many ancient medical traditions see emotions being located in the body. In a new study, Finnish researchers found a way to map the way feelings affect the human body.
The findings, published in in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, reveals how emotions are more than mental states. Using data collected from 773 participants, researchers connected emotions with which areas in the body felt increasing or decreasing activity.
Participants were given computer-modeled body silhouettes next to emotional words, stories, movies, or facial expressions. They were asked to bold the bodily regions where they felt activity using different colors – red and yellow for intensity and shades of blue for dullness.
The 14 different emotions including anger, fear, love and depression show which areas of the body experience the strongest emotions. Researchers found each emotion was expressed differently in the body – and that among different West European and East Asian cultures the reactions remained the same.
The findings discovered remarkable consistencies:
Most basic emotions were associated with sensations of elevated activity in the upper chest area, likely corresponding to changes in breathing and heart rate (1). Similarly, sensations in the head area were shared across all emotions, reflecting probably both physiological changes in the facial area (i.e., facial musculature activation, skin temperature, lacrimation) as well as the felt changes in the contents of mind triggered by the emotional events. Sensations in the upper limbs were most prominent in approach-oriented emotions, anger and happiness, whereas sensations of decreased limb activity were a defining feature of sadness. Sensations in the digestive system and around the throat region were mainly found in disgust. In contrast with all of the other emotions, happiness was associated with enhanced sensations all over the body.
“These maps constitute the most accurate description available to date of subjective emotion-related bodily sensations,” researchers wrote in the study. “Our data highlight that consistent patterns of bodily sensations are associated with each of the six basic emotions, and that these sensations are represented in a categorical manner in the body.”
Researchers were surprised to discover that unlike other emotions that can be pinpointed to specific parts of the body – such as feelings in the throat region for disgust –happiness was felt all over the body. Meanwhile, feelings of anger and fear brought strong emotions to the chest, sadness and depression showed dullness in the legs and feet.
The findings are considered a major step forward in understanding how emotions work in the human body. The result from the study could advance the study of emotional disorders and the tools to diagnose them. For instance, mapping emotions could help develop biomarkers for different disorders and play a role in treating – like smile therapy for those with symptoms of anxiety.
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