Thermoception: How Warmth Connects Body and Mind
Summary: This article explains how temperature perception (thermoception) influences body ownership, emotional regulation, and mental well-being. Drawing on neuroscience and clinical research, it shows why warm hugs feel grounding, how disrupted thermal signals are linked to mental health and neurological disorders, and how these insights could shape future therapies and prosthetic design.
Why Warm Hugs Feel So Good to Your Brain
Why does a warm hug instantly make us feel safe, grounded, and emotionally soothed?
Emerging research suggests the answer lies not just in touch, but in temperature. This article explores how thermoception, the brain’s ability to sense warmth and cold, shapes our sense of body ownership, emotional stability, and mental health, and why understanding this connection may transform future therapies.
Temperature Does More Than Keep Us Comfortable
Feeling warm or cold is not merely a surface-level skin sensation. Temperature signals play a critical role in helping the brain answer a fundamental question:
“Is this body mine?”
New findings reveal that changes in skin temperature influence how connected we feel to our bodies. Everyday experiences such as icy fingers in winter or the comforting warmth of stepping indoors often heighten body awareness. These moments are subtle but neurologically significant.
Traditionally, body temperature was viewed as a purely physiological function essential for survival. However, a recent review published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences challenges this narrow view, positioning temperature as a key contributor to self-awareness and emotional experience.
Thermoception: The Brain’s Forgotten Sense
The review focuses on thermoception, the ability to detect temperature changes at the skin’s surface. Led by Dr. Laura Crucianelli, Lecturer in Psychology at Queen Mary University of London, and Professor Gerardo Salvato from the University of Pavia, the research integrates decades of evidence from neuroscience, psychology, and clinical medicine.
Their central argument is clear: temperature perception deserves a core place in the science of bodily self-awareness.
Thermal signals travel from the skin to the brain via specialised pathways, contributing not only to temperature regulation but also to how strongly individuals experience their bodies as their own. This “skin-to-brain” dialogue helps anchor the self in the physical body.
Warmth, Identity, and Emotional Regulation
According to the researchers, thermoception supports far more than physical comfort. It plays a role in:
- Emotional regulation
- Personal identity
- Feelings of safety and belonging
- Mental well-being
As Dr. Crucianelli explains: “Temperature is one of our most ancient senses. 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.”
This early association between warmth and protection may explain why warmth remains deeply tied to emotional security throughout life.
Links Between Thermal Perception and Mental Health
Disturbances in body awareness are well documented in several psychiatric and neurological conditions, including:
- Depression
- Anxiety disorders
- Trauma-related disorders
- Eating disorders
Individuals with these conditions often report feeling disconnected from their bodies or experiencing a weakened sense of self.
Clinical studies involving stroke survivors, anorexia nervosa, and body integrity dysphoria reveal that altered temperature perception frequently accompanies disruptions in body ownership. These findings suggest that thermoception may be a crucial yet under-recognised factor in these conditions.
Professor Salvato notes:
“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.”
Why Warm Hugs Feel Emotionally Grounding
Warm hugs combine touch and temperature, creating a powerful sensory signal that reinforces body ownership.
Dr. Crucianelli explains:
“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. Feeling warm touch on the skin enhances our ability to sense ourselves from the inside and recognize our own existence. We feel, ‘this is my body, and I am grounded in it.'”
From a neurobiological standpoint, warm social contact activates:
- C-tactile afferents (specialised nerve fibres responsive to gentle touch)
- Temperature-sensitive pathways projecting to the insular cortex, a key region for internal body awareness
These systems are closely linked to emotional regulation, safety perception, and stress reduction. A warm touch is also associated with the release of oxytocin, which strengthens social bonds and reduces physiological stress.
Clinical and Technological Implications
Understanding how temperature influences body awareness has far-reaching implications that extend beyond psychology labs.
Potential real-world applications include:
- Sensory-based mental health therapies
- Improved rehabilitation strategies after neurological injury
- Prosthetic limbs that provide realistic thermal feedback
- Early identification of vulnerability to mental health disorders
The research also raises broader questions about how climate change and rising global temperatures may affect mood, stress, and bodily awareness on a population level.
As the authors note:
“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.”
Conclusion:
Warm hugs feel good not simply because they are pleasant, but because they reinforce our most basic sense of being embodied. Thermoception helps the brain integrate physical sensations with emotional meaning, grounding the self in the body.
As Dr. Crucianelli summarises:
“Warm touch reminds us that we are connected, valued, and part of a social world. Humans are wired for social closeness, and hugs briefly dissolve the boundary between ‘self’ and ‘other’.”
Understanding the science behind warmth and body awareness opens new possibilities for mental health care, rehabilitation, and human-centered technology. Share this insight, and the next warm hug with someone who needs grounding today.
Dane
I am an MBBS graduate and a dedicated medical writer with a strong passion for deep research and psychology. I enjoy breaking down complex medical topics into engaging, easy-to-understand content, aiming to educate and inspire readers by exploring the fascinating connection between health, science, and the human mind.
