They used different stimuli to test what they felt in their bodies as they experienced 13 different basic and complex emotions.
“We often think the emotions are something that happen only in the mind, but there’s also lots of evidence suggesting that they also happen in our bodies,” said study author Lauri Nummenmaa, assistant professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Aalto University School of Science in Finland.
“Our data show bodily sensations associated with different emotions are so specific that, in fact, they could at least in theory contribute significantly to the conscious feeling of the corresponding emotion.”
The data was too conclusive to ignore: the connection between mind and body is strong.
For instance, our body goes warm and we feel happiness across our chest and hips when we’re happy but those areas dull when we feel sad. Anger and contempt we feel in our heads.