How does a racing heart become the feeling of being anxious? · Grey Matter

Signals from the heart, lungs and gut travel through the brainstem and thalamus to the back of the insula, which maps the body's inner state the way the somatosensory cortex maps the skin.

How does a racing heart become the feeling of being anxious?

Signals from the heart, lungs and gut travel through the brainstem and thalamus to the back of the insula, which maps the body's inner state the way the somatosensory cortex maps the skin. The anterior insula re-represents that map together with context and emotion, and Craig proposed that this is where a bodily state becomes a felt state. Together with the anterior cingulate cortex it forms the salience network, which flags the change as something that needs attention and recruits the control needed to respond.