Broadly, I study the physiological, neural, and interoceptive pathways by which bodily states (e.g., hunger, inflammation, “stress”) and related signals (e.g., ghrelin, leptin, cytokines, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) can ultimately shape and inform our emotions, social interactions, and behaviors. I am particularly interested in how bodily states and signals create different "internal contexts" within-person that can shape how our brains construct feelings, attributions, and reactions to the world around us. For example, I have done work on the role of hunger in mood and social judgments and the role of physiological arousal in risk-related learning.
These questions require multiple convergent methods that can formally target the pathways bridging body, brain, and mind. I most often use cognitive and behavioral experimental paradigms combined with psychopharmacology, psychophysiology, and human neuroimaging. But I aim to also build collaborations not only with other psychologists, neuroscientists, physicians, biologists, anthropologists, linguists, and researchers in other countries so that this research program can better consider the diversity of human bodies, brains, and experiences. See also Theoretical Inspirations.
Areas of Research
How much and when do physiological states impact our feelings, perceptions, and behaviors?
Have you ever found yourself angry, grumpy, or lashing out at a loved one - only to realize you're hungry? We've all had moments when our bodies’ states - be that hunger, fatigue, or illness - have impacted our feelings and how we react to the world around us. I examine the neurobiological (i.e., body-brain) and psychological (e.g., awareness) pathways by which physiological states and signals can influence our emotional and social lives. I primarily focus on hunger and physiological arousal as two parallel models for tracing the pathways and causal mechanisms by which bodily states translate to the brain and then feelings and behavior. I also am interested in inflammation as another working model for understanding these dynamics.
Representative Work
MacCormack, J. K., & Lindquist, K. A. (2019). Feeling hangry? When hunger is conceptualized as emotion. Emotion, 19, 301-319. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000422
MacCormack, J. K., & Muscatell, K. A. (2019). The metabolic mind: A role for leptin and ghrelin in affect and social cognition. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13, e12496. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12496
MacCormack, J. K., Armstrong-Carter, E. L., Gaudier-Diaz, M. M., Meltzer-Brody, S., Sloan, E. K., Lindquist, K. A., & Muscatell, K. A. (2021). Beta-adrenergic contributions to emotion and physiology during an acute stressor. Psychosomatic Medicine, 83, 959-968. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001009
MacCormack, J. K., Armstrong-Carter, E. L., Humphreys, K. L., & Muscatell, K. A. (2021). Neurophysiological contributors to advantageous risk-taking: An experimental psychopharmacology investigation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 16, 926-936. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsab047
Gray, K., MacCormack, J. K., Henry, T. R., Banks, E., Schein, C., Armstrong-Carter, E. L., Abrams, S., & Muscatell, K. A. (2022). The affective harm account of moral judgment: Reconciling cognition and affect, dyadic morality and gut feelings, harm and purity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000310
What is the role of the body and interoception in emotion & behavior?
How do peripheral and central (brain) representations of the body play a role in shaping our emotions? One arm of my research tries to understand why some people have more "embodied" experiences of their emotions and what this means for the time course, intensity, and regulation of emotions. I'm especially passionate about trying to understand why some people are more interoceptive than others and how interoception impacts real world behaviors and well-being outcomes (e.g., affective forecasts, intuitive decisions, social perception, stress management). Understanding individual differences in physiological reactivity and recovery, arousal, and interoception could improve our scientific models linking the mind and body, while also generating new insights that benefit clinical and healthcare treatments.
Representative Work
MacCormack, J. K,. & Lindquist, K. A. (2017). Bodily contributions to emotion: Schachter’s legacy for a psychological constructionist approach. Emotion Review, 9, 36-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073916639664
MacCormack, J. K., Armstrong-Carter, E. L., Gaudier-Diaz, M. M., Meltzer-Brody, S., Sloan, E. K., Lindquist, K. A., & Muscatell, K. A. (2021). Beta-adrenergic contributions to emotion and physiology during an acute stressor. Psychosomatic Medicine, 83, 959-968. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001009
Feldman, M. J., MacCormack, J. K., Bonar, A. S., & Lindquist, K. A. (2023). Interoceptive ability moderates the effect of physiological reactivity on social judgment. Emotion, 23, 2231–2242. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001210
Bonar, A. S., MacCormack, J. K., Feldman, M. J., & Lindquist, K. A. (2023). Examining the role of emotional granularity on emotion and cardiovascular physiological activity during acute stress. Affective Science, 4, 317–331. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-023-00189-y
MacCormack, J. K., Bonar, A. S., & Lindquist, K. A. (2024). Interoceptive beliefs moderate the link between physiological and emotional arousal during acute stress. Preprint | Supplementary Materials
Do beliefs and knowledge about the body matter for social affective skills, wellbeing, and health behaviors?
Through personal experiences, upbringing, culture, and language, we learn to organize our feelings and sensations into different categories, building a rich cache of knowledge and beliefs about our emotions and somatic sensations. Largely understudied, I aim to test the importance of interoceptive beliefs and knowledge. For example, how much does it matter for stress, wellbeing, and health whether we believe that our bodily signals are valuable and helpful (vs. misleading and distressing), controllable (vs. difficult to regulate), etc.? What role do interoceptive beliefs and knowledge play in our attributions and misattributions? To what extent are interoceptive beliefs, knowledge, and attention socialized in the family and by culture? How do life experiences (e.g., early life adversity, health issues) alter interoception?
Representative Work
MacCormack, J. K., Castro, V. L., Halberstadt, A. G., & Rogers, M. L. (2020). Maternal interoceptive knowledge predicts children’s emotion regulation and social skills in middle childhood. Social Development, 29, 578-599. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12418
MacCormack, J. K., Henry, T. R., Davis, B. M., Oosterwijk, S., & Lindquist, K. A. (2021). Aging bodies, aging emotions: Interoceptive differences in emotion representations and self-reports across adulthood. Emotion, 21, 227-246. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000699
MacCormack, J. K., Bonar, A. S., & Lindquist, K. A. (2024). Interoceptive beliefs moderate the link between physiological and emotional arousal during an acute stressor. Emotion, 24, 269-290. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001270
Does healthy physical aging change how the brain & body shape social affective experiences & behaviors?
Relative to younger adults, many older adults experience changes in emotions such as improved wellbeing and emotion regulation. These emotional changes could be due to functional or structural changes in the autonomic nervous system and brain, leading older adults to experience less robust or intrusive bodily reactions during emotions and reduced interoceptive awareness of those bodily changes. My research compares age differences between older and younger adults' peripheral psychophysiology, interoceptive ability, and emotional experience. I'm also interested in what impact these physiological declines have on older adults' affect-based decisions, social perceptions, and health behaviors in the real world.
Representative Work
MacCormack, J. K., Stein, A. G., Giovanello, K. S., Kang, J., Satpute, A. B., & Lindquist, K. A. (2020). Affect in the aging brain: A neuroimaging meta-analysis of functional activation and coactivation differences in older vs. younger adult affective experience and perception. Affective Science, 1, 128-154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-020-00016-8
MacCormack, J. K., Henry, T. R., Davis, B. M., Oosterwijk, S., & Lindquist, K. A. (2021). Aging bodies, aging emotions: Interoceptive differences in emotion representations and self-reports across adulthood. Emotion, 21, 227-246. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000699
MacCormack, J. K., Bonar, A. S., Feldman, M. J., & Lindquist, K. A. (2023). Aging bodies, brains, and emotions: The physiological hypothesis of emotional aging. In (Eds., R. E. Kleck, R. B. Adams, Jr., & U. Hess). Emotion communication by the aging face and body: A multidisciplinary view. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.