Embodied Emotions: How Feelings Take Shape in the Corporeal Self

Abstract

Emotions are traditionally conceptualized as mental states only indirectly linked to bodily processes. However, interdisciplinary research increasingly demonstrates that emotions are fundamentally embodied—that is, emotional feelings arise through dynamic interactions between physiological states, neural processing, and subjective appraisals grounded in the corporeal self. This review synthesizes findings from affective neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and cultural studies to explain how bodily processes shape emotional experience. We discuss key mechanisms such as interoception (the brain’s sensing and interpretation of internal bodily signals), body-mapping of feelings, sensorimotor contributions to emotion representation, and theoretical frameworks like predictive processing and the theory of constructed emotion. Empirical evidence indicates that bodily feedback influences emotional intensity, affect regulation, and subjective experience, and that emotional feelings are localized within bodily sensation maps that integrate bottom-up physiological signaling with top-down conceptual and cultural interpretations. We also examine clinical and developmental implications, arguing that embodied emotion models challenge dualistic views and provide richer frameworks for understanding affective disorders, emotional awareness, and the self. Embodied emotions thus exemplify how feelings take shape in the corporeal self, making the body an integral mediator of subjective emotional life.