Examines how the Japanese concept of mushinkei relates to sensory processing sensitivity, suggesting early awareness of low sensitivity.
The English word "insensitive" translates into Japanese as mushinkei — literally, "no nerves." This paper examines whether this somatic metaphor points to real individual differences in neural architecture related to Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS). It further proposes that Japanese speakers may have observed and linguistically encoded the low-sensitivity end of the sensitivity spectrum prior to Aron and Aron's (1997) formal conceptualization of the HSP. The paper connects this linguistic observation to existing neuroscience on empathy-related circuits and to the colloquial concept of "mental strength."
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Q Tekitou (2026) studied this question.
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