Although emotions are part of everyday life, we still do not fully understand how they are mentally represented or how they relate to bodily sensations. Bodily Sensation Mapping (BSM) is a promising method for addressing these questions and is further developed and applied to different research questions in this project.
Although emotions are part of everyday life, we still do not fully understand how they are mentally represented or how they are linked to bodily sensations. A promising approach to addressing these questions is Bodily Sensation Mapping (BSM), a method that investigates how people experience different emotional and mental states in their bodies. Participants indicate on a body silhouette where they experience increased or decreased bodily sensations in response to specific emotions or mental experiences. This approach provides valuable insights into the embodied nature of emotion and cognition.
In this project, bodily sensation mapping is used to better understand how and where different emotions are represented in the body. In a first study, we extended previous research by investigating not only the relationship between bodily sensations and emotional arousal, but also emotional valence. In subsequent studies, we focus on the bodily representation of boredom and, in an ongoing study, on the bodily sensations elicited by imagining physical activity.
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