{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T18:38:21Z","timestamp":1788201501173,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":71,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,13]],"date-time":"2022-07-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1657670400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012325","name":"National Social Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["17BYY041"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["17BYY041"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012325","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Traditional cognitive linguistic theories acknowledge that human emotions are embodied, yet they fail to distinguish the dimensions that reflect the direction of neural signaling between the brain and body. Differences exist across languages and cultures in whether embodied emotions are conceptualized as afferent (feelings from the body) or efferent (enacted through the body). This important distinction has been neglected in academic discourse, arguably as a consequence of the \u2018lexical approach\u2019, and the dominance within the affective psychology of the cognitive and semantic models that overlook the role of interoception as an essential component of affective experience. Empirical and theoretical advances in human neuroscience are driving a reappraisal of the relationships between the mind, brain and body, with particular relevance to emotions. Allostatic (predictive) control of the internal bodily states is considered fundamental to the experience of emotions enacted through interoceptive sensory feelings and through the evoked physiological and physical actions mediated through efferent neural pathways. Embodied emotion concepts encompass these categorized outcomes of bidirectional brain\u2013body interactions yet can be differentiated further into afferent or interoceptive and efferent or autonomic processes. Between languages, a comparison of emotion words indicates the dominance of afferent or interoceptive processes in how embodied emotions are conceptualized in Chinese, while efferent or autonomic processes feature more commonly in English. Correspondingly, in linguistic expressions of emotion, Chinese-speaking people are biased toward being more receptive, reflective, and adaptive, whereas native English speakers may tend to be more reactive, proactive, and interactive. Arguably, these distinct conceptual models of emotions may shape the perceived divergent values and \u2018national character\u2019 of Chinese- and English-speaking cultures.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci12070911","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,13]],"date-time":"2022-07-13T22:06:00Z","timestamp":1657749960000},"page":"911","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Divergent Conceptualization of Embodied Emotions in the English and Chinese Languages"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0917-9070","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pin","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hugo","family":"Critchley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RN, UK"},{"name":"BSMS Department of Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9 RX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yoko","family":"Nagai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BSMS Department of Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9 RX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"147","article-title":"Emotion and the body: A corpus-based investigation of metaphorical containers of anger across languages","volume":"5","author":"Ogarkova","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Cogn. Linguist."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Callies, M., Keller, W.R., and Loh\u00f6fer, A. (2011). Culture-specific concepts of emotionality and rationality. Bi-Directionality in the Cognitive Sciences: Avenues, Challenges, and Limitations, John Benjamins Publishing Company.","DOI":"10.1075\/hcp.30"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sharifian, F., Dirven, R., Yu, N., and Niemeier, S. (2008). Culture and language: Looking for the \u201cmind\u201d inside the body. Culture, Body, and Language: Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and Languages, Mouton de Gruyter.","DOI":"10.1515\/9783110199109"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"314","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2021.02.023","article-title":"The conceptualization of emotions across cultures: A model based on interoceptive neuroscience","volume":"125","author":"Zhou","year":"2021","journal-title":"Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Barrett, L.F. (2020). Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Damasio, A.R. (2018). The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of the Cultures, Pantheon Books."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Damasio, A.R. (2021). Feeling and Knowing: Making Minds Conscious, Pantheon Books.","DOI":"10.1080\/17588928.2020.1846027"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Clark, A. (2016). Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind, Oxford University Press.","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780190217013.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sterling, P. (2020). What is Health: Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design, The MIT Press.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/11472.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1038\/nrn2787","article-title":"The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory?","volume":"11","author":"Friston","year":"2010","journal-title":"Nat. Rev. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tins.2020.09.012","article-title":"Computational Models of Interoception and Body Regulation","volume":"44","author":"Petzschner","year":"2021","journal-title":"Trends Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"565","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2013.09.007","article-title":"Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self","volume":"17","author":"Seth","year":"2013","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20160007","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2016.0007","article-title":"Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain","volume":"371","author":"Seth","year":"2016","journal-title":"Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"395","article-title":"An Interoceptive Predictive Coding Model of Conscious Presence","volume":"2","author":"Seth","year":"2011","journal-title":"Front. Psycho."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Kuriyama, S. (1999). The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine, Zone Books."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"518","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neunet.2009.06.034","article-title":"Language and emotions: Emotional Sapir\u2013Whorf hypothesis","volume":"22","author":"Perlovsky","year":"2009","journal-title":"Neural Netw."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1177\/1754073915595097","article-title":"Language and emotion","volume":"8","author":"Lakoff","year":"2016","journal-title":"Emot. Rev."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"K\u00f6vecses, Z. (1990). Emotion Concepts, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4612-3312-1"},{"key":"ref_19","first-page":"3","article-title":"Language and emotion concepts","volume":"81","year":"1995","journal-title":"Nato ASI Ser. D Behav. Soc. Sci."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"K\u00f6vecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture, and Body in Human Feeling, Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"15","article-title":"Conceptualizing emotions. A revised cognitive linguistic perspective","volume":"50","year":"2014","journal-title":"Pozn. Stud. Contemp. Linguist."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Craig, A.D. (2015). How Do You Feel?: An Interoceptive Moment with Your Neurobiological Self, Princeton University Press.","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400852727"},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Barrett, L.F., Lewis, M., and Haviland-Jones, J.M. (2008). Interoception and emotion: A neuroanatomical perspective. Handbook of Emotions, The Guilford Press. [3rd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2173","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2019.02173","article-title":"Working with the predictable life of patients: The importance of \u201cmentalizing interoception\u201d to meaningful change in psychotherapy","volume":"10","author":"Duquette","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2017.00135","article-title":"Increasing our insular world view: Interoception and psychopathology for psychotherapists","volume":"11","author":"Duquette","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1016\/j.copsyc.2017.04.020","article-title":"Interoception and emotion","volume":"17","author":"Critchley","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr. Opin. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20160010","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2016.0010","article-title":"Interoception, homeostatic emotions and sympathovagal balance","volume":"371","author":"Strigo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Philo. Trans. R. Soc. B Bio. Sci."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"712","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tins.2004.10.007","article-title":"The Bayesian brain: The role of uncertainty in neural coding and computation","volume":"27","author":"Knill","year":"2014","journal-title":"Trends Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Parr, T., Pezzulo, G., and Friston, K.J. (2022). Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior, The MIT Press.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/12441.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ashby, W.R. (1956). An Introduction to Cybernetics, Chapman & Hall Ltd.","DOI":"10.5962\/bhl.title.5851"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20130475","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2013.0475","article-title":"Life as we know it","volume":"10","author":"Friston","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. R. Soc. Interface"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1038\/scientificamerican1094-144","article-title":"Descartes\u2019 error and the future of human life","volume":"271","author":"Damasio","year":"1994","journal-title":"Sci. Am. 271."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Barrett, L.F. (2017). How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"805","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.76.5.805","article-title":"Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant","volume":"76","author":"Russell","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Personal. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Kipfer, B.A. (2005). Roget\u2019s 21st Century Thesaurus, The Philip Lief Group, Inc.. [3rd (21st Century Reference) ed.]."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"(2022, June 26). Collins Dictionary.com. Available online: https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/us\/dictionary\/english-thesaurus\/fear."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"(2022, June 24). Lex. Computing. Available online: https:\/\/www.sketchengine.eu\/skell\/."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"(2022, January 04). Baidu.com. Available online: https:\/\/www.baidu.com."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"(2022, January 06). Wenku.baidu.com. Available online: https:\/\/wenku.baidu.com\/view\/1bac147ee2bd960590c67796.html."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"(2022, January 05). Zhidao.baidu.com. Available online: http:\/\/zhidao.baidu.com."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"(2022, January 05). Xh.5156edu.com. Available online: http:\/\/xh.5156edu.com."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"(2022, January 04). Chengyu.t086.com. Available online: http:\/\/chengyu.t086.com."},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"(2022, January 04). Hydcd.com. Available online: http:\/\/www.hydcd.com."},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"Dictionary Editorial Office, Institute of Linguistics, and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2016). Modern Chinese Dictionary, The Commercial Press. [7th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"Zheng, W., and Zhou, L. (2016). Chinese Idiom Dictionary, The Commercial Press International Ltd.. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_46","unstructured":"Li, B., and Ren, D. (2015). Chinese Idiom Advance Dictionary, Huangshan Publishing House."},{"key":"ref_47","unstructured":"(2022, July 07). Shaoxing University: Pool of Bilingual Parallel Corpora of Chinese Classics. Available online: http:\/\/corpus.usx.edu.cn\/."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1080\/02699939208411068","article-title":"An argument for basic emotions","volume":"6","author":"Ekman","year":"1992","journal-title":"Cogn. Emo."},{"key":"ref_49","first-page":"188","article-title":"What is an emotion?","volume":"34","author":"James","year":"1884","journal-title":"Mind Lang."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1037\/h0046234","article-title":"Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state","volume":"69","author":"Schachter","year":"1962","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lindberg, D.C. (2007). The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450, University of Chicago Press. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226482040.001.0001"},{"key":"ref_52","unstructured":"Maciocia, G. (2015). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine: A Comprehensive Text, Elsevier Health Sciences."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sigerist, H.E. (1932). Man and Medicine. An Introduction to Medical Knowledge, Geoge Allen & Unwin Ltd.","DOI":"10.1097\/00000441-193206000-00023"},{"key":"ref_54","unstructured":"Barrett, L.F., Lewis, M., and Haviland-Jones, J.M. (2016). Language and emotion: Putting words into feelings and feelings into words. Handbook of Emotions, The Guilford Press. [4th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_55","first-page":"17","article-title":"We Are Live Creatures: Embodiment, American Pragmatism, and the Cognitive Organism","volume":"Volume 1","author":"Ziemke","year":"2007","journal-title":"Body, Language, and Mind"},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"434","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-0017.2006.00285.x","article-title":"Metaphor Interpretation as Embodied Simulation","volume":"21","author":"Gibbs","year":"2006","journal-title":"Mind Lang."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"617","DOI":"10.1017\/S0140525X99312140","article-title":"Embodied metaphor in perceptual symbols","volume":"22","author":"Gibbs","year":"1999","journal-title":"Behav. Brain Sci."},{"key":"ref_58","unstructured":"Johnson, M. (2013). The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason, University of Chicago Press."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1075\/pc.10.1-2.02enf","article-title":"Introduction: The body in description of emotion","volume":"10","author":"Enfield","year":"2002","journal-title":"Pragmat. Cogn."},{"key":"ref_60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1177\/1354067X9512006","article-title":"Green, Red and Happiness: Towards a Framework for Understanding Emotion Universals","volume":"1","year":"1995","journal-title":"Cul. Psycho."},{"key":"ref_61","unstructured":"Frank, R.M. (2008). The relationship between metaphor, body and culture. Body, Language and Mind, MOUTON DE GRUYTER. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_62","first-page":"75","article-title":"The meaning of the Chinese cultural keyword xin","volume":"4","author":"Li","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Lang. Cult."},{"key":"ref_63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"483","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01565850","article-title":"Symbolic meanings of the body in Chinese culture and \u201csomatization\u201d","volume":"18","author":"Tung","year":"1994","journal-title":"Cul. Med. Psychi."},{"key":"ref_64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"307","DOI":"10.1075\/pc.10.1-2.13ye","article-title":"Different modes of describing emotions in Chinese: Bodily changes, sensations, and bodily images","volume":"10","author":"Ye","year":"2002","journal-title":"Prag. Cogn."},{"key":"ref_65","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sharifian, F. (2015). Embodiment, culture, and language. The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, Routledge.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315793993"},{"key":"ref_66","first-page":"73","article-title":"The times value of American\u2019s muscle culture: Based on the diachronic development of Chinese and Western Traditional body culture","volume":"32","author":"Cheng","year":"2012","journal-title":"China Sport Sci."},{"key":"ref_67","first-page":"270","article-title":"The comparison and evolution of Chinese and Western conceptions of the body","volume":"8","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Spts. Sty."},{"key":"ref_68","unstructured":"Sun, G., and Zheng, H. (2018). The Foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Traditional Chinese Medicine Publishing House."},{"key":"ref_69","unstructured":"Gershon, M.D. (1999). The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine, Harper."},{"key":"ref_70","unstructured":"Mayer, E.A. (2016). The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choice, and Our Overall Health, HarperCollins Publishers."},{"key":"ref_71","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"559","DOI":"10.1161\/CIRCRESAHA.116.308446","article-title":"Heart-brain axis: Effects of neurologic injury on cardiovascular function","volume":"120","author":"Geocadin","year":"2017","journal-title":"Circ. Res."}],"container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3425\/12\/7\/911\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:49:21Z","timestamp":1760140161000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3425\/12\/7\/911"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,13]]},"references-count":71,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7]]}},"alternative-id":["brainsci12070911"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/brainsci12070911","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.20944\/preprints202205.0359.v1","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2076-3425"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-3425","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,13]]}}}