When a team of scientists in Finland asked people to map out where they felt different emotions on their bodies, they found that the results were surprisingly consistent, even across cultures.

People reported that happiness and love sparked activity across nearly the entire body, while depression had the opposite effect: It dampened feelings in the arms, legs and head. Danger and fear triggered strong sensations in the chest area, the volunteers said. And anger was one of the few emotions that activated the arms.

[Lauri] Nummenmaa and his team ran a simple computer experiment with about 700 volunteers from Finland, Sweden and Taiwan. Not everybody painted each emotion in the same way. But when the team averaged the maps together, signature patterns emerged for each emotion.

Via NPR for the full article.