From physiology to experience: enriching existing conceptions of "arousal" in affective science

Abstract

We examine the notion of “arousal”, an influential notion in affective science referring to the degree of an individual’s “activation” or “excitement” during an emotional state. We examine this notion specifically in relation to interoception, defined broadly as “sensitivity to stimuli arising inside the organism”. We first distinguish “physiological arousal” from “experienced arousal” and argue that both need to be characterised more broadly than commonly done. Physiological arousal does not reduce to sympathetic activation, as it involves complex interactions between multiple functionally distinct pathways within sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system, as well as endocrine and immune systems, and even the gut microbiota. Relatedly, experienced arousal does not reduce to the perception of changes in the body sensed by visceral afferents in response to autonomic nervous system activity, but also includes humorally mediated interoceptive pathways, somatic sensations of various kinds, and “background” bodily feelings