Rationale: Although the study of emotions can look back to over 100 years of research, it is unclear which information the brain uses to construct the subjective experience of an emotion.Objective: In the current study, we assess the role of the peripheral and central adrenergic system in this respect.Methods: Healthy volunteers underwent a double inhalation of 35% CO2, which is a well-validated procedure to induce an intense emotion, namely panic. In a randomized, cross-over design, 34 participants received either a β1-blocker acting selectively in the peripheral nervous system (atenolol), a β1-blocker acting in the peripheral and central nervous system (metoprolol), or a placebo before the CO2 inhalation.Results: Heart rate and systolic blood pressure were reduced in both β-blocker conditions compared to placebo, showing effective inhibition of the adrenergic tone. Nevertheless, the subjective experience of the induced panic was the same in all conditions, as measured by self-reported fear, discomfort, and panic symptom ratings.Conclusions: These results indicate that information from the peripheral and central adrenergic system does not play a major role in the construction of the subjective emotion.