# Thought. Do we really feel it in our brains? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282 "2002-08-23T19:38:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@Eli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eli)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/1 "2002-08-23T19:38:38Z")
When I think about anything, I feel/sense that the thought is inside my head and not for example in my ankle or middle finger. But do I really feel it? Or is it just an illusion caused by the fact that 4 out of our 5 sense “input organs” are located on the head, and because we know that all the thinking job is done in the brains? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/2 "2002-08-23T20:14:15Z")
No cite, but I’ve heard that the ancient Chinese experienced their thoughs in their stomachs. I don’t know whether to believe this (I am highly skeptical), but I thought I’d toss it out. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/3 "2002-08-23T20:15:27Z")
It may just be an illusion because in these modern times we know, from medical science, that thought occurs in the brain. The egyptions thought that all thought and feeling occurred in the heart. So when it came time to embalm their dead, the heart was left in, and the brain was taken out because it was thought of as a useless organ. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/4 "2002-08-23T21:02:58Z")
What an excellent, interesting question. I’ve also wondered conversely (sort of) - why we “feel” emotions in our chest. E.g. emotional pain seems to reside more in the chest than in the head. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/5 "2002-08-23T23:02:49Z")
[Mind-Body Problem of Philsophy](http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~philos/MindDict/mindbody.html) ---
**Author:** ![MarshalDowns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@MarshalDowns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarshalDowns)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/6 "2002-08-24T05:59:07Z")
I know that when I think, I feel a slight pressure in my head that immediately goes away when I stop thinking very much… maybe its a tumor?:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/7 "2002-08-24T06:14:48Z")
I think it’s because four out of the five major sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, and tongue – are located on the head in close proximity to the brain so we tend to perceive the world from that physical vantage point. And since thoughts aren’t much more than phantom sights, sounds, smells, and tastes, it makes sense that they seem to be centered where we normally perceive them as originating. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/8 "2002-08-24T10:19:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Thought. Do we really feel it in our brains? - - - You don’t feel anything in your brain. 😃 ~ ---
**Author:** ![Rhapsody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rhapsody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhapsody)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/9 "2002-08-24T10:48:42Z")
i really like the recent idea that conciousness resides in the electrical field AROUND the brain rather than in the brain itself That would explain why no one has been able to find a particular structure or area in the brain that can be called the seat of conciousness. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/10 "2002-08-24T11:16:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DougC \* > \*\* > > - > - > - You don’t feel anything in your brain. > 😃 > ~ \*\* actually, you feel _everything_ in your brain. your tactile nerves send information up to your brain, which processes the input, and then overlays the sensations onto the kinesthetic map in your head. funky, i know. jb ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thought-do-we-really-feel-it-in-our-brains/125282/11 "2002-08-24T16:54:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhapsody \* > \*\*i really like the recent idea that conciousness resides in the electrical field AROUND the brain rather than in the brain itself That would explain why no one has been able to find a particular structure or area in the brain that can be called the seat of conciousness. \*\* A more likely explanation is that there isn’t any particular “seat of conciousness”.