图谱描绘幸福和羞耻

Chests puffing up with pride — and happiness felt head to toe — are sensations as real as they are universal. And now we can make an atlas of them.

Researchers have long known that emotions are connected to a range of physiological changes, from nervous job candidates’ sweaty palms to the racing pulse that results from hearing a strange noise at night. But new research reveals that emotional states are universally associated with certain bodily sensations, regardless of individuals’ culture or language.

More than 700 participants in Finland, Sweden and Taiwan participated in experiments aimed at mapping their bodily sensations in connection with specific emotions. Participants viewed emotion-laden words, videos, facial expressions and stories. They then self-reported areas of their bodies that felt different than before they’d viewed the material. By coloring in two computer-generated silhouettes — one to note areas of increased bodily sensation and the second to mark areas of decreased sensation — participants were able to provide researchers with a broad base of data showing both positive and negative bodily responses to different emotions.

Researchers found statistically discrete areas for each emotion tested, such as happiness, contempt and love, that were consistent regardless of respondents’ nationality. Afterward, researchers applied controls to reduce the risk that participants may have been biased by sensation-specific phrases common to many languages (such as the English “cold feet” as a metaphor for fear, reluctance or hesitation). The results are published today in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Although each emotion produced a specific map of bodily sensation, researchers did identify some areas of overlap. Basic emotions, such as anger and fear, caused an increase in sensation in the upper chest area, likely corresponding to increases in pulse and respiration rate. Happiness was the only emotion tested that increased sensation all over the body.

The findings enhance researchers’ understanding of how we process emotions. Despite differences in culture and language, it appears our physical experience of feelings is remarkably consistent across different populations.

The researchers believe that further development of these bodily sensation maps may one day result in a new way of identifying and treating emotional disorders.

骄傲感会充满胸膛，幸福感会从头顶灌倒脚底，这种真实的感觉所有人都有体会。而现在我们可以用图谱描绘它们了。

研究人员早就知道情绪影响着一系列体征变化。从求职者因紧张而掌心出汗，到在夜晚听到奇怪的声响而心跳加速。但是新的研究表明，情绪状态与特定的身体感觉有关，无论个人的文化或语言。

超过700名来自芬兰、瑞典和台湾的参测者参与实验，实验旨在描绘出特定情绪对身体感觉的映射图。参与者观看感情激昂的文字、视频、表情和故事。然后自行报告跟观看材料前相比，他们感觉不同的身体部位。用电脑生成了两幅轮廓图，一幅是感觉增加的区域，一幅是感觉降低的区域，对这两图着色后参测者就能向研究人员提供一个广泛的基础数据显示身体对不同情绪的正面和负面的反应。

研究人员为每一个情绪测试建立统计离散模型，比如幸福、受辱和爱，得到的结果是一致的与受访者的国籍无关。随后，研究人员使用了控制方法，降低了参测者因为多种语言特殊感觉偏差造成的（测试结果不准确）风险（例如英语“cold feet”可理解为害怕，不情愿或犹豫）。研究结果今天在美国国家科学院的会议上发表。

尽管每种情感产生一个特定的身体感觉图谱，研究者也确定了一些重叠的区域。基本的情绪，比如愤怒和恐惧，会引起上胸部区域感觉增强，很可能同时会引起脉搏和呼吸率的增加。而在所有测试的情绪中，幸福是唯一能增加全身感觉的情绪。

研究结果提高了研究人员对人类如何处理情绪的理解。尽管文化和语言存在差异，但似乎我们的身体感受其他人是高度一致的。

研究人员认为，随着这些身体感觉图谱的进一步研究，未来可能会找到识别和治疗情感障碍的新方法。