People placed different emotions in different parts of the body

In five experiments, 701 people saw two outlines of a body. Beside them were emotion words, stories, film clips or faces.

People colored the parts of the body where they felt activity rise or fall.

Different emotions gave different maps, and the maps held across the experiments.

The maps were alike in people from Western Europe and from East Asia.

A computer program could tell the emotions apart from the maps alone.

The authors propose that sensing these body changes may be key to the feeling you notice.

Five experiments and 701 people is a solid base for a finding like this. Two regions of the world gave similar maps.

But the maps show what people reported feeling. They are not readings taken from the body.

The authors also offer an idea about why. That idea is a proposal, not something the study tested.

The Disappearing Pattern is the pull to leave when someone gets close. You may feel your chest go tight before you stop replying.

The body signal is what you feel in your body as the pattern starts. This study found people could say where a feeling sat in their body.

Catch comes first. Catch means you feel the body signal and name the pattern before it becomes the behavior.

So make your own map. After the next time you pull away, write down where in your body you felt it first.

This study did not test The Archivist Method. It mapped emotions in general, not the signals before a pattern starts.

It does not say where you will feel anything. It shows what many people reported, not one body.