During feelings of anxiety, the brain kicks the heart into overdrive. But as it races, does the heart, in turn, talk to the brain? For centuries, scientists have debated whether the heart holds sway over the mind, and now, research published today (March 1) in Nature suggests that physical states can influence emotional ones. The study found that an elevated heart rate can cause anxious behaviors in mice—but only in risky circumstances. This suggests that interventions that target the heart might be effective treatments for panic disorders, the authors suggest.
“I thought it was a very elegant demonstration of what we instinctively believe and have shown using piecemeal methods: that body states inform emotional feeling states,” says Sarah Garfinkel, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London who was not involved in the work.
In his 1884 essay “What is an emotion?”, philosopher and psychologist William James, widely regarded as the ...
