# Psychosomatic Feedback Loop **Domain:** Mind-Body Systems / Language / Cybernetics **Doc Type:** Canonical concept node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition A psychosomatic feedback loop connects interpretation, expectation, physiology, behavior, and subsequent experience in a recurring causal cycle. ## Mechanism and Significance Language and belief influence expectation; expectation can affect bodily arousal and conduct; the resulting experience may then reinforce or revise the original interpretation. ## Evidence Boundary Psychosomatic influence does not imply that illness, pain, or recovery is imaginary or fully voluntary. Biological, social, environmental, and clinical causes remain material. ## Relationships [[wiki/Biological Cybernetics|Biological Cybernetics]] · [[wiki/Neuroplasticity|Neuroplasticity]] · [[wiki/Feedback Loops|Feedback Loops]] · [[wiki/Embodied Cognition|Embodied Cognition]] ## Related Articles and Collections - [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - [[articles/Analog Cognition and the Architecture of Continuity|Analog Cognition and the Architecture of Continuity]] - [[articles/Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems|Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “Belief and language participate in a psychosomatic feedback loop. Interpretation shapes expectation, expectation shapes physiology and behavior, and the resulting experience can strengthen the interpretation that began the cycle. Understanding the loop gives a person several places to intervene.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Belief, Language, and the Psychosomatic Feedback Loop - Livestream (May 2018)* [[reminders/Cybernetics/Belief and Language Form a Psychosomatic Feedback Loop by Bryant McGill|Belief and Language Form a Psychosomatic Feedback Loop by Bryant McGill]]