The role of the Somatosensory system in the feeling of emotions: a neurostimulation study

Emotional experiences deeply impact our bodily states, such as when we feel ‘anger’, our fists close and our face burns. Recent studies have shown that emotions can be mapped onto specific body areas, suggesting a possible role of the primary somatosensory system (S1) in emotion processing. To date, however, the causal role of S1 in emotion generation remains unclear.

To address this question, we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on S1 at different frequencies (beta, theta and sham) while participants saw emotional stimuli with different degrees of pleasantness and level of arousal. Results showed that modulation of S1 influenced subjective emotional ratings as a function of the frequency applied. While theta and beta-tACS made participants rate the emotional images as more pleasant, only theta-tACS lowered the subjective arousal ratings. Skin conductance responses confirmed a different arousal for pleasant vs unpleasant stimuli.

Our study revealed that S1 has a causal role in the feeling of emotions, adding new insight into the embodied nature of emotions. Importantly, we provided causal evidence that beta and theta frequencies contribute differently to the modulation of two dimensions of emotions - arousal and valence - corroborating the view of a dissociation between these two dimensions.