How the Biology of Emotion Plays a Role in Our Judgement and Decision-Making: A Series
Part 2: The Physical Sensations of Emotions
Imagine that you are about to step on stage to present a speech in front of fifty people. What sorts of physical symptoms are you experiencing? Do you feel butterflies in your stomach? Are your arms dotted with goosebumps? Now imagine that you just landed the job you’ve been crossing your fingers for. You might feel a buzz in your chest and a lightness in your step. While these physical sensations are often spoken about in daily language and performed in poetry, there is a scientific explanation for why our emotions so often present themselves through a physiological experience.
Psychologists Lauri Nummenmaa, Enrico Glerean, Ritta Hira and Jari K. Hietanen explored the origins of these physical symptoms that accompany emotions by conducting a study that aimed to answer the question of whether physical sensations associated with emotions are taught by a person’s culture, or a universal human experience. In their research, they recruited participants from West European cultures and East Asian cultures and asked them to respond to emotional stimuli such as stories, movies, facial expressions, and emotion-evoking words by coloring on a diagram of a human (referred to as a Bodily Sensation Map, or an MSP) where in the body they believe particular emotions would be felt. The specific emotions studied were categorized as “Positive Emotions” or “Negative Emotions”. Emotions labeled as “positive” were happiness, love, and pride. Within the category of Negative Emotions, four clusters were created. Cluster One consisted of anger and fear, Cluster Two was anxiety and shame, Cluster Three was sadness and depression, and the fourth cluster was Disgust, contempt, and envy. Two categories were created separate from the “Positive Emotions” and “Negative Emotions”. One category represented Neutral Emotion, whereas the emotion of surprise stood on its own due to the belief that surprise would not always be described as a positive emotion, or negative emotion; and yet, the emotion feels too strong to be considered “Neutral”.
Image Citations: Nummenmma, et al. “Bodily Map of Emotions” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, p. 646–651
The image depicted above represents the areas of the body that tend to feel “stimulated” when experiencing the emotions listed. Areas that are colored with warm colors indicate areas that are activated, whereas the areas with cool colors are areas of deactivation. The top row lists emotions that are considered to be “basic emotions”, the bottom row lists emotions that are considered to be more complex (Doucleff, 2013).
Throughout this research conducted by Nummenmma, et al., the BSMs collected from each participant showed that people from very different cultures tend to associate each emotion with similar physiological reactions, therefore supporting the hypothesis the researchers developed that the physical experiences that come along with emotions are similar universally across all humans; as opposed to physiological reactions being taught by culture (Nummenmaa, et al., 2014).
Because humans appear to have a rather universal experience with the physical symptoms of emotions, it becomes apparent that there must be some reason for the physical sensations we have while undergoing an emotion. There must be some reason why we all experience increased heart rate while we’re nervous, or a sense of heat in our chest when we’re angry. When diving into the biological phenomenon our brain experiences, we may be able to gain insight into an answer.
Our brains are constantly processing information provided by our environment. When we are about to cross the street and we see an oncoming vehicle, our brain will respond and we will likely find our feet stopping in their tracks. When we hear a person laughing, our brain will process the information and develop a response, perhaps we’ll wonder what the person is laughing about or even join in on the laughter. We can begin to develop an understanding of this relationship we have to our environment through looking at parts of the brain that have been credited with information processing.
The Autonomic Nervous System contains two internal systems known as the “Sympathetic Nervous System” and the “Parasympathetic Nervous System”. The Sympathetic Nervous System is typically associated with our “fight or flight” response, while our Parasympathetic Nervous System is used when we are in a state of rest (Walsh, 2013). With this, we are able to understand why we may be able to run at fairly extraordinary speeds when in a state of fear. As a means of survival, our Sympathetic Nervous System signals for the release of adrenaline, which will empower us to invest our energy into escaping the stimulus that is eliciting the fear response. We then return to a state of relaxation when our Parasympathetic Nervous System activates and slows down our heart rate, steadies our breathing, and allows us to rest.
The services of the Sympathetic Nervous System and Parasympathetic Nervous System are deserving of a great deal of credit for the longevity of the survival of the human species. The Sympathetic Nervous System provides us with the ability to protect ourselves from threats to danger, while the Parasympathetic Nervous System allows for rest and restoration that will allow for future empowerment when we need to use our body’s energy.
APA Citations
“Nummenmma, et al. (2014) “Bodily Map of Emotions” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, p. 646–651
Doucleff (2013) “Mapping Emotions in the Body: Love Makes Us Warm All Over” National Public Radio
Walsh (2013) “Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and Physiologic Markers of Emotion”, Khan Academy
Kop, et al. (2010) “Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity to Positive and Negative Mood Induction: The Role of Acute Psychological Responses and Frontal Electrocortical Activity” National Center For Biotechnology Information
Popkin (2019) “How the Autonomic Nervous System Impacts Daily Life” Penn State.
