They wanted to verify the validity of all these expressions, which make these physical sensations the testimony of an emotion.
A study not very complicated to carry out, but it was necessary to have the idea: volunteers felt different emotions, using books, images, and films… They then colored a diagram of the human body with different colors: red for a strong sensation, blue for less activity. If they didn’t feel anything, they left the area empty. Thanks to this, the researchers were able to draw up a typology, a map of sensations linked to emotions.
They discovered that there is great consistency in the body’s reactions. Basic emotions, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, joy, surprise, are mostly associated with increased activity in the chest. There is a medical explanation for this. This corresponds to changes in the respiratory or cardiac rhythm. They are also the ones that cause the strongest physical sensations.
Overall, the physical manifestations of emotions hardly overlap. Depending on the emotions, pleasant or not, different areas of the body react. Thus, disgust is more often associated with sensations in the digestive system and the throat while sadness is linked to a lower activity of the lower limbs. Joy activates pleasant sensations throughout the body. Emotions in relation to others, they tend to solicit the upper limbs. The results also reveal that fear and sadness are quite similar.
The Finns were wary of the impact of their northern culture and went to Taiwan to find out if the expressions can vary between cultures for the same emotion. In fact, no differences, participants reported the same activities for simple emotions. Whatever the culture, eastern or western, the body reacts in the same way to an emotional request.
However we know that, in front of the excesses of table for example, the Americans have a heartache, the English accuse the stomach and the French the liver! Researchers point to the possibility of language influence on statements, but with nuance. For example, the expression “having the ball in the belly” could influence the assertions of the participants. Unless it’s the other way around … the expression was created from a real sensation. It is the classic dilemma “which of the chicken or the egg”?…
These maps are the most accurate description available of physical sensations related to emotions. An important research, because between “oriental” and “western” medicines, the distinction is often crude to misinform, mislead or sweep cultural axes rather than making useful statements on different theories of the human organism. This is the case with meditation or yoga, often derided by traditional medicine, when it is used in the treatment of pain, mental health care and preventive or rehabilitative treatments.
These simple maps, this university study does good in this sometimes obtuse debate by bringing solid evidence that shows that the body is involved in all types of cognitive and emotional functions.
In other words, the human spirit is strongly embodied.
Dr Jean-François Lemoine
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