Main titles

• The study participants were evaluated on how much they experienced multiple feeling states in the body and mind.
• All five categories of feelings that were tracked in the study were permeated by strong bodily sensations.

"These results show that conscious feelings stem from bodily feedback. Although consciousness emerges due to brain function and we experience our consciousness to be 'housed' in the brain, bodily feedback contributes significantly to a wide variety of subjective feelings" - Associate Professor Lauri Nummenmaa from Turku PET Centre.

• Emotions mark our feelings as pleasant or unpleasant.

"Subjective well-being is an important determinant of our prosperity, and pain and negative emotions are intimately linked with multiple somatic and psychological illnesses. Our findings help to understand how illnesses and bodily states in general influence our subjective well-being. Importantly, they also demonstrate the strong embodiment of cognitive and emotional states", says Nummenmaa.

Source: utu.fi