Bodily maps of emotions.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Level by design analogy (cross-sectional laboratory experiments using subjective self-report).
PubMed 24379370 · doi:10.1073/pnas.1321664111
What was done
Across five experiments involving 701 West European and East Asian participants, researchers mapped bodily sensations associated with distinct emotions using a computerized topographical self-report tool. Participants viewed emotional stimuli (words, stories, movies, or facial expressions) alongside two body silhouettes and colored regions where they felt bodily activity increasing or decreasing. Statistical classifiers were used to determine whether the resulting bodily sensation patterns were distinct across emotions.
What was found
Statistically separable bodily sensation maps were consistently associated with different emotions across all five experiments. The resulting maps were concordant across West European and East Asian samples. Statistical classifiers accurately distinguished emotion-specific activation maps. No numerical values (such as classification accuracy rates, effect sizes, or p-values) were reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate that distinct emotions correlate with consistent, culturally universal somatotopic sensation maps, supporting theories that somatosensory feedback contributes to conscious emotional experience.
Limits
The study relied exclusively on subjective self-reports of felt bodily sensations rather than direct physiological or autonomic recordings (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance, or neuroimaging). The abstract does not provide exact numerical classifier accuracy rates or effect sizes.
Cited by
- supports Lauri Nummenmaa and colleagues published a study in PNAS investigating bodily maps of emotions by asking participants to indicate on a body mannequin where they felt different emotions in response to emotion words.