The body acts as a critical conduit, supplying the brain with the visceral information it lacks. It does so in this way: When interacting with other people, we subtly and unconsciously mimic their facial expressions, gestures, posture, and vocal pitch. Then, via the interoception of our own bodies’ signals, we perceive what the other person is feeling because we feel it in ourselves. We bring other people’s feelings onboard, and the body is the bridge. In an act akin to taking a bite off our partner’s plate, or borrowing an earbud to hear the song our friend is listening to, we are sampling
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