Relationship between the Brain and Body

Relationship between the Brain and Body

Many attempts have been made to explain the relationship between the brain, body, and emotion, with great disagreement. One theory seeking to explain this relationship is called the James-Lange theory of emotion. The James of this duo is a reference to the famous William James of the 19th century.

The James-Lange theory says that an emotionally competent stimulus is detected first, and that triggers physiological responses. Those responses then feed back into the brain, producing the emotions and feelings we experience.

A cornerstone idea of this theory is that different stimuli elicit different bodily states. Specific emotions are experienced from the interpretations of these various states. What we feel depend of what our bodies are telling us.

Another duo of researchers in the early part of the 20th century put forth what became the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion. They argue that emotions couldn't just be a reaction to what is going on in the body, and for two reasons. First, our physiological responses are just too slow. You can consciously feel some things instantly, and then your body catches up (blushing is a good example).

The second reason comes from data a little more startling. Research eventually showed that arousals were remarkably similar from one stimulus to the next, even opposing stimuli. For example, feelings of pleasure ignite similar physiological responses as feelings of stress do.

Given these contradictions, Cannon-Bard came up with another idea. They stated that an emotionally competent stimulus triggers some physiological bodily response while simultaneously triggering other activity in the brain. Different feelings then arise because of differing interpretations of similar aroused bodily responses. Your brain has to make an inference from other sources before the emotion is identified.

These days, the controversy has come to something of a truce, mostly because we have more data. Both theories have elements that were shown to be correct over the years, and both have elements that weren't.

This is all understandable. The real view turns out to be confusing. We now know that brain and body are both the cause and the effect of emotions and feelings. They work together to create the experiences, establishing an equilibrium – a bidrectionality.

A negative stimulus might be realizing that you're falling off a cliff. Photo by Elena.