Thermoception: The Overlooked Sense That Helps Us Feel Like Ourselves
New research is offering a clearer picture of how temperature affects the way we experience our own bodies, revealing more about how signals from the skin reach the brain. The findings could lead to practical applications ranging from sensory-based mental health treatments to prosthetic limbs that feel more natural to the people who use them.
As winter sets in, many people notice familiar sensations: fingers and toes turning icy outside, then cheeks warming up after stepping indoors. During these temperature shifts, body awareness can feel sharper and more immediate.
For decades, body temperature was largely treated as a basic biological function. A new review published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences challenges that view by focusing on thermoception—the ability to sense changes in skin temperature, such as the warmth of a hug or the sudden sting of cold. According to the authors, these thermal cues do more than signal comfort or danger: they can influence how strongly we feel that our body belongs to us.
Thermoception and the Sense of Self
The review was led by Dr. Laura Crucianelli, a Lecturer in Psychology at Queen Mary University of London, and Professor Gerardo Salvato of the University of Pavia. Drawing on research across neuroscience, psychology, and clinical science, they argue that temperature should be considered a key part of how the brain builds bodily self-awareness—an overlooked route through which the body communicates with the mind.
The researchers suggest that thermoception, together with the systems that regulate body temperature, supports more than survival. It may also shape emotional experience, personal identity, and mental health.
“Temperature is one of our most ancient senses,” Dr. Crucianelli explains. “Warmth is one of the earliest signals of protection—we encounter it in the womb, in early caregiving, and whenever someone holds us close. It keeps us alive, but it also helps us feel like ourselves. By studying how the brain interprets warmth and cold, we can begin to understand how the body shapes the mind.”
Links to Mental Health and Neurological Conditions
Disturbances in body awareness are common in several mental health conditions, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders. People may feel detached from their bodies or experience a weakened sense of self.
Clinical findings involving stroke, anorexia nervosa, and body integrity dysphoria suggest that difficulties in thermal perception can occur alongside disruptions in body ownership. This points to the possibility that temperature sensing is closely tied to how the brain recognizes the body as its own.
Professor Salvato notes that experimental work increasingly supports this connection. In some cases, people whose temperature regulation or temperature perception is altered after a stroke may develop conditions in which they no longer recognize a part of their body as belonging to them.
From Research to Real-World Applications
The potential impact of this work extends beyond the lab. By better understanding thermal signals and the “skin-to-brain” communication, researchers may be able to identify factors that increase vulnerability to mental health conditions and develop new treatments that work through the senses.
Possible applications include improved rehabilitation approaches for neurological patients, prosthetics that incorporate more realistic thermal sensations, and sensory-based mental health therapies designed to strengthen body awareness.
The review also raises broader questions about environmental change. The authors suggest that increasing exposure to extreme temperatures—including those linked to climate change—could affect mood, stress, and bodily awareness in daily life.
Why Warm Hugs Feel So Comforting
So why can a warm hug feel uniquely grounding?
Dr. Crucianelli says that hugging combines touch and warmth in a way that can strengthen body ownership, making people feel more connected to their embodied sense of self. Warm touch on the skin can heighten internal body awareness and reinforce the feeling of being present in one’s own body.
From a neuroscience perspective, warm social contact engages specialized touch fibers known as C-tactile afferents, along with temperature-sensitive pathways that relay signals to brain regions involved in internal body awareness, including the insular cortex. These systems are linked to feelings of safety and emotional regulation. Warm touch is also associated with oxytocin release and reduced stress, helping support bonding while reinforcing bodily self-awareness.
As Dr. Crucianelli puts it, warm touch can serve as a reminder that we are connected to others. Humans are built for social closeness, and a hug can briefly soften the boundary between “self” and “other.”
