Researchers Create New Emotional Body Map

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People reported happiness and love prompted sensations across almost the whole body, as depression in contrast reportedly deadened feelings in the arms, legs and head.

The feelings of danger and fear caused sensations in the chest area, while anger activated the arms.

Scientists said they hope the body graphic derived from the study can one day help psychologists diagnose or treat mood disorders.

"Our emotional system in the brain sends signals to the body so we can deal with our situation," said Lauri Nummenmaa, an Aalto University psychologist who lead the study. "Say you see a snake and you feel fear ... Your nervous system increases oxygen to your muscles and raises your heart rate so you can deal with the threat. It's an automated system. We don't have to think about it."

Nummenmaa and his team ran a basic computer experiment with about 700 volunteers from Finland, Sweden and Taiwan.

The team showed subjects two blank silhouettes of a person on a screen and then told the subjects to think about one of 14 emotions, such as love, disgust, anger or pride. The participants were then asked to paint areas of the body that felt stimulated by that emotion. On the second silhouette, they painted areas of the body that actually seemed to be deactivated by the same emotion.

Not everybody painted each emotion in the same way, although when the researchers compared the painted silhouettes altogether, specific patterns emerged for each emotion.

The team published those aggregate sensation maps today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team says it still doesn't know how the self-reported sensations match with the physiological responses that actually occur with emotion. But, Nummenmaa indicates previous studies have found marked changes in bodily sensations in mood disorders.

Then there's added evidence that, when you change your own body language, you can alter your mind.

Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, a professor at the University of Southern California who was not involved in the study, told National Public Radio he was "delighted" by Nummenmaa's findings because they support what he's been suggesting for years, that each emotion activates a distinct set of body parts and the mind's recognition of those patterns helps people consciously identify that emotion.

"People look at emotions as something in relation to other people," said Damasio, but emotions "also have to do with how we deal with the environment -- threats and opportunities."