Maps of subjective feelings

Our team spanning Human Emotion Systems laboratory, University of Tampere, and Aalto University has revealed how subjective feelings are organised in the human consciousness. Subjective feelings are a central feature of human life. We constantly experience an ever-changing stream of feelings that is only abolished during sleep, brain damage, and deep unconsciousness. It is however most puzzling how we organise our inner mental lives. Our new research shows how such subjective feelings are organised into five groups: positive emotions, negative emotions, cognitive operations, homeostatic functions, and sensations of illness. All these feelings are coupled with strong bodily feelings. This page provides a lay summary and additional information on the study originally published in Proceedings of The National Academy of the United States of America. You may read the full paper here.

Data acquisition is still on-going for future related projects. You can participate in the experiment via this link

How the study was done?

The study was conducted as an Internet-based survey, whose results were used to generated maps of 100 common feelings covering, for example, emotions, cognition, homeostatic processes, and illnesses. Over 1000 adults took part in the experiments. They evaluated how strongly they experience different feelings in the mind and the body, and how pleasant and controllable each feeling was. Next, the participants were shown with the full list of 100 feelings, and were asked to arrange them into a grid so that similar feelings would be close and different feelings away from each other. Finally, participants were shown pictures of blank human bodies, and asked, for each feeling, to colour the regions where they experience changes during each feeling.

Mapping the feeling space. You may download a larger version of the image by clicking here.

Accesing the experimental code and data

The program code used for acquiring the data can be  this link. The complete dataset acquired in the study can be downloaded here.

Map of feelings

Based on the similarity ratings we generated a map of human feelings. In this map, the feelings that are experienced as similar to each other are also close to each other, whereas those that feel dissimilar are distant. The feelings form five discrete groups (clusters): positive emotions, negative emotions, cognition, homeostatic states, and illnesses. This grouping is likely based on the way the brain parses and combines the signals coming from the external environment and the body.

Map of human feelings. You can zoom the image by hovering the pointer over it. A high-resolution version is available for download here. If you wish to translate the figure to another language, there’s a version without the labels available too; click here to download.

Bodily basis of feelings

All feelings were associated with a unique bodily “fingerprint”. These were obtained by asking subjects to colour on blank human body figures the regions where they experienced each feeling. The resulting maps were then averaged across participants for each feeling. The resulting bodily maps are remarkably distinct across feelings, except for those associated with higher mental functions such as thinking and reasoning. Strong bodily signatures for feelings suggests that bodily processes are an important determinant of subjective feelings in general.

Bodily basis of feelings. You can zoom the image by hovering the pointer over it. A high-resolution version is available for download here. If you wish to translate the figure to another language, there’s a version without the labels available too; click here to download.

A video version of the results is available in multiple languages:

Feelings maps video (English version)

Feelings maps video (Finnish version)

Feelings maps video (Japanese version)

Feelings maps video (Spanish version, coming soon)

Basic dimensions of feelings

The subjects also evaluated basic properties of all the feeling states: how saliently they are felt in the mind and the body, how pleasant and controllable they are, and how much time has passed since they last experienced each feeling. The table below shows the average ratings obtained in the study. The feelings are arranged based on their pleasantness, but you can rearrange the list by clicking on the column headers.

Feeling	Group	Mind	Body	Pleasure	Control	Lapse
Sadness	Negative emotion	864	953	183	258	323
Anger	Negative emotion	866	926	165	588	426
Happiness	Positive emotion	786	921	955	672	159
Fear	Negative emotion	875	922	108	466	363
Surprise	Between	596	831	571	276	259
Disgust	Negative emotion	747	822	122	434	383
Pride	Positive emotion	534	847	723	605	312
Gratefulness	Positive emotion	699	921	898	727	155
Longing for	Between	762	912	430	493	257
Despise	Negative emotion	640	899	152	554	551
Despair	Negative emotion	721	934	129	466	523
Shame	Negative emotion	787	945	112	505	480
Guilt	Negative emotion	741	917	82	648	366
Disappointment	Negative emotion	648	882	145	460	315
Pleasure	Positive emotion	810	912	909	701	145
Nervousness	Negative emotion	897	886	243	477	240
Winning	Positive emotion	718	873	861	654	360
Losing	Negative emotion	596	773	273	567	414
Succeeding	Positive emotion	725	906	924	718	238
Failing	Negative emotion	756	907	119	604	341
Wanting	Positive emotion	702	877	639	650	172
Craving	Positive emotion	728	886	664	612	295
Waiting	Between	530	784	426	496	176
Inhibiting	Between	656	836	459	812	230
Social longing	Between	824	935	309	539	323
Speaking	Homeostatic	630	755	641	837	51
Laughing	Positive emotion	894	925	933	741	139
Love	Positive emotion	860	946	932	594	253
Social exclusion	Negative emotion	627	918	115	527	375
Togetherness	Positive emotion	670	889	898	644	244
Loneliness	Negative emotion	599	888	232	662	413
Ostracism	Negative emotion	754	925	141	310	536
Closeness	Positive emotion	843	909	907	734	226
Hostility	Negative emotion	758	901	127	661	382
Sympathy	Positive emotion	669	887	687	662	188
Anxiety	Negative emotion	857	939	82	476	286
Panic	Negative emotion	903	929	77	422	631
Stress	Negative emotion	845	913	184	553	184
Depression	Negative emotion	806	934	67	417	494
Mania	Between	710	788	458	414	791
Eating	Homeostatic	841	785	808	849	65
Drinking	Homeostatic	769	619	716	821	93
Hunger	Homeostatic	858	826	252	821	137
Satiation	Homeostatic	868	735	743	813	137
Thirst	Homeostatic	849	702	212	840	194
Sweating	Between	832	479	371	520	184
Urinating	Between	776	488	636	672	59
Defecation	Between	860	427	640	590	117
Tiredness	Negative emotion	888	921	293	602	186
Vitality	Between	843	911	873	700	142
Exhaustion	Negative emotion	899	898	205	545	273
Breathing	Homeostatic	666	342	697	508	10
Heartbeat	Between	729	408	531	246	107
Drunkenness	Illness	865	862	520	888	522
Sexual arousal	Positive emotion	886	893	856	713	228
Orgasm	Positive emotion	940	880	948	835	244
Shivering	Illness	885	664	210	347	566
Hangover	Illness	891	846	214	850	617
Heartburn	Illness	803	482	192	549	598
Suffocation	Between	946	875	115	312	847
Relaxation	Positive emotion	873	895	945	755	210
Sleeping	Between	740	667	860	715	136
Thinking	Cognition	366	877	643	685	20
Remembering	Cognition	459	817	661	646	90
Attending	Cognition	589	807	670	764	99
Forgetting	Between	326	668	291	504	228
Reading	Cognition	386	792	759	825	62
Imagining	Cognition	486	881	735	878	139
Daydreaming	Cognition	587	877	814	753	211
Inferring	Cognition	388	800	666	805	154
Reasoning	Cognition	423	851	660	767	138
Estimating	Cognition	418	767	550	681	268
Being conscious	Cognition	606	833	716	709	154
Memorizing	Cognition	338	796	477	742	141
Recognition	Cognition	545	794	703	480	235
Recollection	Cognition	404	788	572	700	188
Having flu	Illness	882	726	152	322	395
Having fever	Illness	889	681	159	260	640
Having stomach flu	Illness	937	638	45	226	729
Having cold	Illness	869	670	149	282	418
Having headache	Illness	928	669	187	481	326
Feeling nauseous	Illness	932	802	138	348	383
Having toothache	Illness	899	728	104	330	746
Coughing	Illness	815	442	240	317	298
Sneezing	Illness	853	407	527	211	260
Aching	Illness	910	737	152	368	236
Being dazzled	Between	715	531	415	592	313
Seeing	Homeostatic	571	657	768	638	49
Hearing	Homeostatic	637	735	630	496	44
Feeling touch	Positive emotion	914	852	811	635	143
Smelling	Homeostatic	658	680	588	352	87
Tasting	Homeostatic	774	804	730	594	75
Itching	Illness	882	634	183	426	271
Numbness	Between	810	413	222	527	324
Feeling pain	Illness	934	802	108	394	273
Hotness	Between	920	657	389	511	319
Coldness	Between	899	642	215	682	310
Dizziness	Illness	884	674	194	324	426
Movement	Between	906	719	754	862	124
Acceleration	Between	840	766	406	586	320