Summary: Changes in skin temperature play a key role in how strongly we experience our bodies as our own. Thermoception influences emotion, identity, and mental health by acting as a direct “skin-to-brain” pathway supporting bodily self-awareness.
Disruptions in thermal perception are linked to altered body ownership in conditions such as stroke, anorexia, depression, and trauma-related disorders. These insights open avenues for sensory-based therapies, more natural-feeling prosthetics, and new ways to understand climate-related effects on cognition and mood.
Key Facts
- Skin-to-Brain Pathway: Temperature signals directly shape bodily self-awareness and emotional grounding.
- Clinical Relevance: Disturbed thermal perception is tied to altered body ownership in several mental health and neurological conditions.
- Therapeutic Potential: Findings may guide sensory-based interventions, prosthetic design, and rehabilitation.
Source: Queen Mary University London
As winter closes in, you might start to notice your fingers and toes freezing when you go outside, or your face flushing hot when you go into a heated building. In these moments of changing temperature, we become more aware of our bodies.
Until now, bodily temperature has been seen as a purely physiological signal. But a new review published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences looks at how ‘thermoception’ – our perception of changes in skin temperature, such as a warm hug or a chill in the air – influences how strongly we experience our bodies as “our own.”
The article, by Dr Laura Crucianelli, Lecturer in Psychology at Queen Mary University of London and Professor Gerardo Salvato of the University of Pavia, reviews decades of research in neuroscience, psychology and clinical science. The findings expand the neuroscience of bodily self-awareness to include temperature, revealing a previously overlooked pathway through which the body communicates with the brain.
The researchers propose that the link between thermoception and body temperature regulation contributes not only to survival and comfort, but also touches on emotion, identity, and mental health.
“Temperature is one of our most ancient senses,” says Dr Crucianelli. “Warmth is one of the earliest signals of protection – we feel it in the womb, in early caregiving, and whenever someone holds us close. It keeps us alive, but it also helps us feel like ourselves. By studying how the brain interprets warmth and cold, we can begin to understand how the body shapes the mind.”
Altered body awareness is a feature of several mental health conditions, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders. Sufferers can feel a sense of detachment or disconnection from themselves. Clinical evidence from stroke, anorexia nervosa and body integrity dysphoria shows that disruptions in thermal perception may accompany disturbances in body ownership.
Dr Salvato says: “For example, we now know from experimental studies that thermal signals play a fundamental role in clinical conditions. People with altered temperature regulation and temperature perception, due to a brain stroke, may develop pathological conditions according to which they do not recognize part of their bodies as belonging to themselves”.
Beyond the lab, these findings carry wide implications. Understanding the contribution of thermal signals and the “skin-to-brain” dialogue opens up possible new avenues for identifying mechanisms of vulnerability and developing sensory-based interventions for mental health. For example, it may improve rehabilitation for neurological patients, inform the design of prosthetics that feel more natural, and guide mental health interventions.
The review also highlights the potential impact of climate change and extreme temperature exposure on body awareness and cognition. Drs Crucianelli and Salvato adds, “As global temperatures rise, understanding how warmth and cold shape the relationship with ourselves may help explain shifts in mood, stress, and bodily awareness in everyday life”.
So why DO warm hugs make us feel good about ourselves?
“When we hug, the combination of tactile and thermal signals increases our sense of body ownership, so we are more connected to our embodied sense of self,” says Dr Crucianelli. “Feeling warm touch on the skin enhances our ability to sense ourselves from the inside and recognise our own existence. We feel, ‘this is my body, and I am grounded in it.’”
Scientifically put, warm interpersonal contact engages specialised C-tactile afferents and thermosensitive pathways that project to the insular cortex, facilitating interoceptive signalling associated with safety and affective regulation. This sensory input is accompanied by oxytocin release and reductions in physiological stress, supporting social bonding and enhancing bodily self-awareness, and ultimately, wellbeing.
In other words, “Warm touch reminds us that we are connected, valued, and part of a social world,” says Dr Crucianelli. “Humans are wired for social closeness, and hugs briefly dissolve the boundary between ‘self’ and ‘other’.”
Key Questions Answered:
A: Thermal signals shape bodily self-awareness by reinforcing the feeling that the body belongs to us, influencing identity, grounding, and emotional regulation.
A: Disruptions appear in stroke, anorexia, depression, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders, where individuals may experience detachment or reduced body ownership.
A: Understanding thermal pathways could improve sensory-based mental health interventions, enhance prosthetic design, and support rehabilitation strategies for neurological patients.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this emotion and temperature research news
Author: Katy Taylor-Gooby
Source: Queen Mary University London
Contact: Katy Taylor-Gooby – Queen Mary University London
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Shaping bodily self-awareness through thermosensory signals” by Laura Crucianelli et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Abstract
Shaping bodily self-awareness through thermosensory signals
Cutaneous thermosensory signals are a fundamental component of human evolution and individual development, supporting physiological regulation and survival.
Recent behavioral and clinical evidence suggests that thermal signals from the skin contribute to the construction of body ownership.
The insular and parietal cortices may underlie the relationship between cutaneous thermosensory signals and body ownership.
Understanding how thermosensory signals shape body ownership offers translational insights with implications for neurorehabilitation, prosthetic embodiment, and human adaptation to environmental change.
