Heartbeat May Shape How We See Bodies

Our hearts may do more than pump blood. They may also shape how people see others. The study looked at body postures. It wanted to know how people judge them. It also wanted to know if a fast or slow heart changes that view. The idea came from earlier facial studies. Those studies found that heart timing can matter.

The team studied people who had no dance training. They rated upright and upside-down postures. The postures came from motion capture of contemporary dancers. Every picture came at one of two heart moments. One was the squeeze phase. One was the resting phase. The team also used a heartbeat task. It checked how well people knew their own heartbeat. It asked about emotional feeling and body arousal.

The first guess did not hold up. The ratings for feeling and liking did not jump in the squeeze phase. Instead, the cardiac effects were conditional. The strength of the feeling was linked to body arousal. This was not true for turned poses during the squeeze phase. The link to body position was shaped by heartbeat perception.

The team said cardiac factors may matter. They may matter for dance-like body postures. The effect depended on body orientation. It depended on the stimulus's affective traits. It also depended on personal heartbeat differences. The study noted that ongoing physical states may shape how people judge bodies. This may go past faces. It may also affect how people feel about bodies.