Here’s where you feel it in your body when your team wins or loses in the World Cup

The World Cup is nothing if not an emotional roller coaster. After four weeks and 61 matches, we’ve seen everything from utter joy to complete disbelief. And yesterday’s semifinal of Brazil vs. Germany may top the charts as one of the most emotional days in soccer history. The home team’s crushing 7-1 defeat (with five goals in the first 30 minutes) makes one wonder: What does that feel like? Fortunately, some scientists have an answer, of sorts:

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Composited body maps show where we feel (or don’t) the sadness of defeat and how the joy of a victory can literally make our whole body glow.PNAS

We know that different emotions can create a variety of physiological responses such as sweaty palms or flushed cheeks, but these bodily sensations aren’t reliable indicators of specific emotions. So rather than measure these types of emotional reactions, researchers from Aalto University in Finland mapped where on the body people say they feel these emotions.  In a study published at the end of last year, over 700 participants from around the world viewed emotionally charged words, movies, short stories, or facial expressions online, and colored blank computer-generated human silhouettes in places where they felt “increasing activity” (the warmer colors above) or “decreasing activity” (the blue shades).

Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, yesterday tweeted, “Like many Brazilians, I am very, very sad with the defeat.” People in the study depicted sadness as slightly increased activity in the chest and head, but reduced in their limbs.

Assim como todos os brasileiros, estou muito, muito triste com a derrota.—
Dilma Rousseff (@dilmabr) July 08, 2014

Meanwhile, others around the country likely had intense sensations in their chests, throats and heads, agreeing with the front of Belo Horizonte’s newspaper which simply said, “SHAME”.

Strong. Front of Belo Horizonte newspaper says only, “SHAME.” Then has sixth unearned star falling from page. #BRA http://t.co/adt9qeBsXf—
Randy Kim (@randy_j_kim) July 09, 2014

With the other semifinal match still deadlocked at 0-0 as of this writing, just where Argentine or Dutch fans will be feeling the result is still up for debate.

Here’s where you feel it in your body when your team wins or loses in the World Cup