Feeling Your Feelings: The Head-to-Toe Science of Emotions
Stomp Your Feet Your little brother spilled grape juice on your favorite T-shirt You're going to get him Stomp Stomp Stomp You won't even need to explain that you're angry Your brother will know by the sound of your feet We humans walk more heavily when we're mad This is true no matter where we're born Timbuktu or Toronto New York or New Delhi In fact even elephants and rhinos stomp when they're angry When you get mad your body acts like you're under attack A burst of adrenaline a chemical messenger sends blood to your muscles and releases extra sugar into your bloodstream Scientists call this the fight or flight or freeze response Your body is ready for action Your little brother probably isn't a physical threat but your body doesn't know that This part of your nervous system developed thousands of years ago when people regularly encountered wild animals And now your body is ready to fight So even if you don't plan on punching anyone your stomping warns other people that your body's in battle mode Watch out little brother Stress Test Have you ever had any of these reactions during a stressful situation Heart racing to send extra blood to your muscles Lungs working overtime for extra oxygen Hands up to protect yourself Pupils dilating so you can see danger Muscles tensing and ready
High-Tech Toes Video game designers have a problem Online people can only communicate by talking or typing But in real life we communicate by widening our eyes scrunching our eyebrows folding our arms and puffing out our chests Without all these physical cues how can gaming feel as immersive as real life Our feet might hold the answers In 2017 scientists in Denmark asked study participants to wear fancy shoes implanted with vibrating sensors Then they sent tiny shifts and shakes through the soles so it felt as if another person was walking on the floor nearby The participants had to identify different sorts of footsteps based on the vibrations they received through the shoes Were the footsteps aggressive happy neutral sad or tender Usually people were able to identify a definite emotion based on the tremors Hard quick tremors felt aggressive while soft slow tremors felt more tender Uneven tremors seemed happy as if someone was skipping Scientists and programmers are still working to fully incorporate this sort of body language called haptic feedback into video games What do you think Could you get touchy-feely touchy-feely through your feet neutral sad happy tender Want to learn more about anger Check out the liver-ish lore on page 10 Or turn the page for the next stop on our human body tour aggressive
Knock-knock jokes What kind of jokes do your knees like to tell Knocking Knees Have you ever been so nervous that your legs trembled Maybe your knees even shook Those shivers and quivers are real When you get scared or anxious your body sends in the same hormones as when you get angry But remember your human stress responses evolved thousands of years ago You can't run away from or fight a spelling test At least not without talking to the principal afterward So instead your action-ready knees might shake Some of us get extra anxious around other people especially if we have to walk into a new classroom alone or stand at a podium and give a speech Imagine you're at the front of the class Just as you're about to share your research presentation about earthquakes your knees start to tremble Soon they're shaking so much it's a seismic event Here's what expert speakers recommend STABILIZE Stand with both your feet flat on the floor FAKE IT Hold your shoulders back as if you're bursting with confidence BREATHE Slow regular breathing tells your body that you're safe RELAX Those shakes seem big to you but they're probably too slight for other people to notice The good news Shaking knees don't last very long The feeling will probably fade once you start your presentation
Kneel Notes From a kneeling position you can't fight well You also can't easily run away By kneeling you're showing someone else that you're powerless Humans use this body-language message in all sorts of ways In many religions people pray on their knees By kneeling they feel as if they're submitting to a higher power In medieval Europe a soldier would kneel before the monarch and be declared a knight While kneeling the soldier promised service and loyalty You need a higher allowance When you drop to your knees in front of your parents and fold your hands you're saying you respect them look up to them and will do anything for a bit more cash Here's one last kneel to think about Imagine a group of students entering a judo dojo They stop at the side of the mat facing the sensei their teacher Then they kneel and bow They're not praying to the sensei and they're not begging for anything So what do you think they're saying with their bodies Want to know more about quivery feelings Turn to page 16 for heartfelt facts Or turn the page for some liver-ish lore
