General George S. Patton, a prominent U.S. Army general, once announced, “If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do… the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.” While Patton may have said this with motivation and discipline in mind, his words hold significant truth in the field of healthcare. The mind’s influence stretches far beyond completing mathematical equations or signaling our emotional states – it shapes how we perceive pain, how we respond to stress, and even how effectively our bodies heal. Patton’s emphasis on the mind’s authority over the body also hints at something deeper: the mind can shape not just our endurance or emotions, but even our sensory experiences, including how we perceive temperature. In many ways, the mind acts as an unseen conductor, directing the body’s reactions in moments when physical endurance alone is insufficient. One striking example of this phenomenon is the ability of thoughts alone to alter body temperature.
In a study conducted by neuroscientist Lormier Moseley and his colleagues on the on body ownership and temperature perception, Moseley reports, “The sight of an apparently-thermal object … affects thermal judgments … only when we consciously perceive the relevant body surface as belonging to ourselves” (Proceedings of the Royal Society B). Overall, the study demonstrated how simply seeing something cold made the body feel cold as well. This illustrates how the brain’s interpretation of seeing something cold can override the temperature making contact with the skin. While the physical body may be receiving a neutral stimulus (a stimulus that provides no specific response in an organism), the mind still generates a cold sensation, proving that perception – not just raw sensory input – is a crucial aspect of body temperature regulation.
Furthermore, beyond visual illusions, psychological states themselves also produce sensations of cold, as shown by social psychologists Chen-Bo Zhong and Geoffrey Leonardelli, who explored how social exclusion influences physical sensations. After the experiment is over, they conclude, “Being socially excluded … make[s] people feel colder … they believe a room is colder and prefer warm drinks and snacks.” The physical environment does not influence the experiment; only the participants’ thoughts and feelings do. Despite this, their bodies respond as if the temperatures have actually dropped, demonstrating how the mind can independently generate bodily sensations and illustrating its dominance over purely physical conditions, as well as how one’s emotions can also regulate temperature.
In another study by physiologist Eason Wang, who conducted a psychology and hypnosis-based study on imagery and thermoregulation, it is explained that “Thoughts, imagery and suggestion can change … vasomotor tone and sweating. Imagining cold compresses leads to vasoconstriction.” Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of blood vessels in the skin, a response to cold conditions that reduces blood flow to the body’s surface and conserves core body heat. It responds to the autonomic nervous system, but the study proves that it can be triggered by mental images alone. The body responds because the mind instructs it to, reinforcing that cognitive processes can drive bodily changes normally thought to be automatic. This phenomenon is especially relevant in the area of temperature regulation, as it demonstrates the body’s ability to cool itself and explains certain scenarios, such as cold hands before a performance or test.
Finally, in work examining empathy and autonomic mirroring, neuroscientist Neil Harrison and his colleagues observed, “Volunteers … watched videos of people putting their hands in cold water … [and] their own body temperature drop[ed] significantly.” No physical cold stimulus touches the participants, yet they respond as if they were the ones making contact with the cold water. This emotional-cognitive process physically alters body temperature, demonstrating how powerful mental interpretation can be.
Several brain regions and body systems facilitate these mind–body interactions, including the autonomic nervous system (ANS), hypothalamus, insula, and ventral tegmental area (VTA). The ANS controls involuntary, automatic physiological processes in the body, such as heart rate, breathing, digestion, and blood pressure. Positive emotions or nostalgic memories can result in the release of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which activate the sympathetic nervous system in the ANS (a part of the “fight or flight” response). Often, this increases blood flow to certain areas of the body, creating a sensation of warmth. The hypothalamus is a small, almond-sized structure in the brain that maintains homeostasis. Two key functions of the hypothalamus are regulating body temperature and translating emotions to physical responses. When interpreting emotions, the hypothalamus can cause one to feel a sensation of warmth or coldness. The insula is located deep inside the lateral sulcus, providing a subjective feeling of the body’s internal state, a process also known as interoception. In other words, the insula’s activation allows the body to feel physical warmth. Empathy involves a “mirror neuron system” where one simulates the feelings of others. When one empathizes with someone who feels comfort or safety, their insula helps them “feel” a version of their internal state, which can manifest as a sensation of physical warmth in one’s own body. Finally, the VTA is the body’s reward center, releasing dopamine that makes one crave a physical sensation. The ability to control the VTA’s release of dopamine can allow one to convince oneself that feeling cold or hot is good or bad, improving their tolerance of the external temperature by influencing their perception of it. Dopamine also excites “warm-sensitive” neurons and inhibits “cold-sensitive” neurons in the preoptic/anterior hypothalamus, activating the body’s heat dissipation mechanisms, such as vasodilation or increased blood flow.
Collectively, these findings reveal that temperature perception is not merely a mechanical response to the external world. Rather, it is an exchange between physiological mechanisms and cognitive processes. Patton’s assertion that “the mind runs the body” proves to be unexpectedly aligned with modern research, demonstrating that the human brain is not simply a passenger in bodily experience but an active force capable of adjusting, amplifying, or even creating physical sensations on its own. Ultimately, these insights highlight that perception and physiology function as a single, interconnected system—each shaping the other—so that what one feels is the product of both the body’s signals and the mind’s interpretations.
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