Anomalous Bodily Maps of Emotions in Schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
Embodied emotions arise from interoceptive and somatosensory processes, and are essential to the development of a stable sense of self. Emotional embodiment is therefore inherently interwoven with our sense of bodily self-awareness, and allows us to navigate complex social situations. Given that the core feature of schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by the presence of bodily self-disturbances and social-emotional deficits, we hypothesized that embodiment of emotion would be disrupted in SZ.


METHOD
Twenty-six medicated individuals with SZ and 26 demographically matched controls used a computerized topographical mapping tool ("EmBODY") to indicate on a body outline where they felt bodily sensations while experiencing an emotion. There were 13 different emotions plus a neutral state. The resulting bodily maps of emotions were quantitatively compared between groups using linear discriminant analysis and similarity scores.


RESULTS
Bodily maps of emotions were anomalous in SZ as indicated by indistinguishable maps across different emotions. Relative to the control group, patients reported less discrete and less clear bodily sensations across emotions. In particular, bodily maps for low-arousal emotions were atypical in comparison with healthy controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Anomalous and undifferentiated mapping of embodied emotions in SZ could lead to deficits in linking bodily sensations to conceptual categories of emotions. Disrupted emotional embodiment could also contribute to poor social functioning. Abnormal bodily sensations of emotions might therefore be a promising target for future psychosocial interventions.
['Torregrossa|Lénie J|LJ|', 'Snodgress|Matthew A|MA|', 'Hong|Seok Jin|SJ|', 'Nichols|Heathman S|HS|', 'Glerean|Enrico|E|', 'Nummenmaa|Lauri|L|', 'Park|Sohee|S|']
D000328:Adult D016022:Case-Control Studies D016002:Discriminant Analysis D004644:Emotions D005260:Female D006801:Humans D065812:Interoception D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012559:Schizophrenia D012677:Sensation
schizophrenia embodiment interoception self-disturbance bodily self somatic