Bodily maps of emotions across child development

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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

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Jari K Hietanen1, Enrico Glerean2, Riitta Hari2

  • 1Human Information Processing Laboratory, School of Social Sciences and Humanities/Psychology, University of Tampere, Finland. jari.hietanen@uta.fi.

Developmental Science
|February 23, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Bodily sensation maps for basic emotions become more distinct in children and adolescents as they age. This developing awareness of physical emotional cues influences how young people understand and interpret their feelings.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Basic emotions like happiness and fear are linked to specific bodily sensations.
  • These physical sensations may form the basis of how we experience emotions subjectively.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine how bodily sensation maps for basic emotions develop in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17.
  • To understand the developmental trajectory of emotion-related physical feelings.

Main Methods:

  • A study involving 331 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17.
  • Analysis of how participants associated bodily sensations with basic emotions and emotional neutrality.

Main Results:

  • Children as young as 6 years could identify distinct bodily sensations for happiness, fear, surprise, and neutrality.
  • Bodily sensation maps became more specific and adult-like with increasing age.

Conclusions:

  • Emotion-related bodily sensations become more discrete throughout childhood and adolescence.
  • The development of awareness of these physical sensations is crucial for children's emotional perception, labeling, and interpretation.

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