Body Sensations and Emotions

Abstract

In this chapter, peripheral and central theories of emotions, including pathological aspects, such as alexithymia, autism, anxiety, and depression, are discussed in the light of interoception. The dissociation between actual and felt visceral events was not known to the authors of the classic theories; for them, body sensations indicated patterns of physiological activation. Empirical evidence shows that manipulated feedback on body changes impacts the emotional experience, which highlights the importance of perceived factors in the process. The vast majority of the empirical findings on the associations between interoceptive accuracy and various aspects of emotions were obtained using the Schandry paradigm, a method that is heavily impacted by top-down factors. Thus, the contribution of bottom-up interoceptive information and top-down factors cannot be separated in the available body of evidence. Felt body changes not only contribute to the affective experience but they are also subject to affective evaluation, thus the associations between emotions and perceived somatic changes are much more complex than assumed by the classic theories.