Listen to your heart to ‘read minds’

COUNTING your heartbeats could be the key to understanding other people’s emotions, research suggests.

Volunteers in a study were asked to count the beats, without feeling their pulse, to see how aware they were of bodily sensations.

Participants were then shown video clips of people talking, which assessed their ability to “read the minds” of the characters.

During the clips they were asked what the characters were feeling and thinking, as well as non-social questions such as “what was the weather like?” Those who had counted their heartbeats most accurately were better at answering questions relating to the characters’ emotions.

But there was no association between their ability to perceive internal sensations and give correct answers to non-social questions.

Psychologist Punit Shah, from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, offered an explanation for the findings, reported in the journal Cortex.

He said: “An example of this could be if your colleague Michael is aggressive towards Sandra on public transport, your body processes this by increasing your heart rate, perhaps making you feel awkward and anxious, enabling you to understand that Sandra is embarrassed.

“If you do not feel your heart rate increase, it may reduce your ability to understand that situation and respond appropriately.

“This seems straightforward yet there is almost no scientific evidence for the link between internal sensations and mind reading. Our study shows the psychological processes involved in mind reading, while also highlighting that internal sensations may be linked to a range of psychological abilities and difficulties.”

Reading the thoughts of others could be aided by improving heartbeat perception, he added.

“This may have a beneficial impact on daily functioning, where an improved ability to interpret the internal states of oneself and of others could result in more accurate mind reading, more generally improve someone’s social interactions and overall quality of life.”