Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr;15(2):127-144.
doi: 10.1177/17540739231163180. Epub 2023 Mar 16.

Somatovisceral influences on emotional development

Kelly E Faig  1 , Karen E Smith  2 , Stephanie J Dimitroff  3
Affiliations

Somatovisceral influences on emotional development

Kelly E Faig et al. Emot Rev. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Frameworks of emotional development have tended to focus on how environmental factors shape children's emotion understanding. However, individual experiences of emotion represent a complex interplay between both external environmental inputs and internal somatovisceral signaling. Here, we discuss the importance of afferent signals and coordination between central and peripheral mechanisms in affective response processing. We propose that incorporating somatovisceral theories of emotions into frameworks of emotional development can inform how children understand emotions in themselves and others. We highlight promising directions for future research on emotional development incorporating this perspective, namely afferent cardiac processing and interoception, immune activation, physiological synchrony, and social touch.

Keywords: Autonomic Nervous System; Development; Emotion; Interoception; Psychophysiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
An overview of the central and peripheral pathways involved in the integration and processing of somatovisceral signals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Ainley V, Apps MAJ, Fotopoulou A, & Tsakiris M (2016). ‘Bodily precision’: A predictive coding account of individual differences in interoceptive accuracy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1708), 20160003. 10.1098/rstb.2016.0003 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alkon A, Boyce WT, Davis NV, & Eskenazi B (2011). Developmental changes in autonomic nervous system resting and reactivity measures in Latino children from 6 to 60 months of age. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics : JDBP, 32(9), 668–677. 10.1097/DBP.0b013e3182331fa6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Astor K, Lindskog M, Forssman L, Kenward B, Fransson M, Skalkidou A, Tharner A, Cassé J, & Gredebäck G (2020). Social and emotional contexts predict the development of gaze following in early infancy. Royal Society Open Science, 7(9), 201178. 10.1098/rsos.201178 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Azzalini D, Rebollo I, & Tallon-Baudry C (2019). Visceral Signals Shape Brain Dynamics and Cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(6), 488–509. 10.1016/j.tics.2019.03.007 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Balzarotti S, Biassoni F, Colombo B, & Ciceri MR (2017). Cardiac vagal control as a marker of emotion regulation in healthy adults: A review. Biological Psychology, 130, 54–66. 10.1016/J.BIOPSYCHO.2017.10.008 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources