New research is drawing attention to how temperature may shape awareness of our own bodies, offering a different perspective on the relationship between skin sensations and the brain. Scientists suggest that thermoception — the ability to sense warmth and cold — may contribute not only to temperature regulation but also to body awareness.
In colder months, sensations such as numb fingers outdoors or flushed cheeks after returning inside can make changes in the body particularly noticeable. Traditionally, temperature perception has been studied largely in relation to thermoregulation and protection from potentially harmful temperatures. A growing body of research, however, suggests it may also interact with the way the brain represents the body.
Thermoception and the sense of self
A new review published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences examines evidence that thermoception may play an important role in how people experience their own bodies. The paper, led by Dr. Laura Crucianelli of Queen Mary University of London and Professor Gerardo Salvato of the University of Pavia, brings together findings from experimental and clinical research.
The authors propose that thermal signals provide an important channel of communication between the body and brain. Beyond helping regulate body temperature, these signals may contribute to body ownership — the feeling that our body and its individual parts belong to us — as well as aspects of emotional experience.
Crucianelli notes that warmth is present from very early in human development and is closely associated with caregiving and physical contact. The researchers argue that repeated thermal experiences could therefore contribute to the development and maintenance of bodily self-awareness.
Links to mental and neurological health
Alterations in body awareness can occur in several psychiatric and neurological conditions. People may experience changes in how they perceive their bodies or, in some cases, feelings of detachment or unfamiliarity.
Research involving people with neurological injuries, anorexia nervosa and body integrity dysphoria has identified associations between altered temperature perception and unusual experiences of body ownership. Following certain brain injuries, disturbances in temperature processing can also occur alongside difficulties recognizing a limb as belonging to the body.
These observations do not establish that disrupted thermoception causes disturbances in body ownership. However, they support the possibility that thermal information is one of several sensory signals the brain uses to construct and continuously update its representation of the body.
Could temperature become part of therapy?
Understanding this relationship could eventually have practical applications in mental health treatment, neurological rehabilitation and assistive technology.
Researchers are investigating whether controlled thermal stimulation, potentially combined with touch, could influence bodily awareness. In people recovering from stroke or other neurological injuries, thermal feedback might eventually complement existing rehabilitation techniques aimed at restoring sensory processing and body representation.
The findings could also be relevant to prosthetic design. Modern prostheses can increasingly provide different forms of sensory feedback, and incorporating information about temperature could potentially help artificial limbs provide a richer and more natural sensory experience.
However, these possibilities remain areas for further research. The review provides a theoretical and scientific framework rather than evidence that thermal interventions are already established treatments for psychiatric or neurological conditions.
The authors also discuss broader environmental implications. As people experience increasingly frequent periods of extreme heat, understanding how temperature affects not only physical health but also cognition, mood and bodily experience could become increasingly relevant.
Why warmth can change how touch feels
Temperature may also help explain why warm physical contact can feel different from touch alone.
Experimental research suggests that temperature and affective touch can interact in shaping bodily perception. Slow, gentle touch is associated with activity in specialized sensory pathways that communicate with brain regions involved in processing bodily and emotional signals, including the insular cortex.
Warmth can therefore alter the sensory and emotional context in which touch is experienced. This may help explain why warm interpersonal contact can feel particularly comforting and why physical warmth is so frequently associated with social and emotional warmth.
However, the biology of a hug is more complex than a simple sequence in which warm touch releases oxytocin, lowers stress hormones and consequently strengthens body ownership. These processes depend on context, relationship, individual differences and the type of touch involved.
The emerging research on thermoception instead points to a broader idea: temperature is not merely something the body detects to prevent overheating or excessive cooling. Thermal information may form part of the continuous stream of sensory signals the brain uses to understand the body’s condition and distinguish it as one’s own.
Further experimental and clinical research will be needed to determine how important thermoception is relative to touch, vision, proprioception and other sensory systems involved in body representation. If its role proves substantial, thermal feedback could eventually become a useful component of technologies and therapies designed to improve bodily awareness.
