Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Sensing the heart, seeing the world: Neural mechanisms of attentional allocation between interoception and exteroception

This study uses fMRI to compare neural networks for interoceptive and exteroceptive attention, finding distinct but interacting systems for internal and external sensory processing.

A cortical basis for perception of internal gut sensations

Mice can report optogenetic activation of vagal gut mechanosensory neurons; insular cortex encodes perceptual report and causally affects detection only in a difficult psychophysics task, not simple detection.

Emotion Dysregulation Links Interoceptive Accuracy and Vagal Activity to Psychopathology in Male but not Female Adolescents

The paper shows that in male adolescents, lower cardiac vagal regulation links to greater emotion dysregulation and psychopathology, mediated by interoceptive accuracy, while this pathway is absent in females.

Perceived Control Over Breathing Perturbations Depends on Interosensory Input and Prediction Error

The paper tests a computational model of perceived control over breathing by analyzing data from a novel behavioral task, finding that perceived control depends on interoceptive outcomes and prediction errors.

Emotions and bodily sensations evoked by cardiac adenosine stress

This study shows that peripheral physiological activation from adenosine stress testing can drive subjective emotional experiences, providing causal evidence for the embodied nature of emotions.

A hierarchical Bayesian model reveals increased precision weighting for afferent cardiac signals, and reduced anxiety, as a function of interoceptive training

This paper shows that interoceptive training improves heartbeat perception accuracy and reduces anxiety, with computational models explaining the underlying changes in signal precision and noise parameters.

Identity-state expression and switching in co-conscious dissociative identity disorder: a non-traumatic proof-of-concept fMRI study

This study uses fMRI to investigate neural differences between identity-states in DID without trauma provocation, finding distinct brain activity patterns during state switching.

Emotional reactivity to aversive primes impedes motor preparatory activity in functional neurological disorders

This study investigates how emotional reactivity to aversive primes affects motor preparatory activity in functional neurological disorders using fMRI and behavioral measures.

Socio-emotional difficulties observed in alexithymia reflect altered interactions of the semantic and monoaminergic neuromodulatory brain networks

This study identifies functional and structural brain network alterations in alexithymia, linking them to socio-emotional difficulties through semantic and monoaminergic neuromodulatory network dysconnectivity.

Differences in layer-specific activation of the insula during interoceptive vs. exteroceptive attention

The paper investigates layer-specific activation in the insula during interoceptive and exteroceptive attention tasks using fMRI and finds increased activity in upper cortical layers during interoceptive attention.

Processing of inner bodily signals: evidence and insight from adolescence

This study examines interoception development in adolescents and adults, finding no difference in accuracy but lower metacognitive awareness and higher focus in adolescents.

Microstructural Brain Correlates of Inter-individual Differences in Respiratory Interoception

The paper identifies brain microstructural correlates of individual differences in respiratory interoception using imaging and psychophysical models in a human sample.

Interoceptive training enhances emotional awareness and body image perception: evidence from improved heartbeat detection and psychological outcomes

Peripheral Beta-Blockade Differentially Enhances Cardiac and Respiratory Interoception

This study investigates how beta-blockers affect cardiac and respiratory interoception using computational modeling, finding differential impacts on perceptual sensitivity and metacognition.

Hemispheric divergence of interoceptive processing across psychiatric disorders

This study investigates hemispheric differences in interoceptive processing in psychiatric disorders using neuroimaging, finding dysgranular mid-insula dysfunction in anxiety, depression, and eating disorder patients.

Incorporating uncertainty within dynamic interoceptive learning

This study extends an interoceptive learning task to measure prediction certainty continuously and applies a learning model to analyze how learning rates relate to stimuli valence and mental health factors.

Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: illusory perception of heartbeat is induced by pain expectation.

This study shows that expecting pain increases perceived heart rate, even when actual heart rate does not change, revealing an interoceptive illusion driven by threat expectations.

A Machine Learning Approach Towards the Differentiation Between Interoceptive and Exteroceptive Attention

This study uses machine learning to distinguish interoceptive and exteroceptive attention in fMRI data, showing distinct neural networks and improved interoceptive attention after training.

Neurophysiological Changes Associated with Vibroacoustically-augmented Breath-focused Mindfulness for Dissociation: Targeting Interoception and Attention

This study evaluates the effects of vibroacoustically-augmented breath-focused mindfulness on interoception, attention, and autonomic regulation in trauma-exposed women with dissociative symptoms.

Cardiac and gastric interoception have distinct neural substrates

This study compares neural activation for cardiac and gastric interoception using fMRI in healthy humans, finding distinct brain regions involved in each type of interoception.

Interoceptive Awareness of the Breath Preserves Dorsal Attention Network Activity amidst Widespread Cortical Deactivation: A Within-Participant Neuroimaging Study

This study uses fMRI to compare interoceptive and exteroceptive attention, finding that interoception reduces cortical activity but increases connectivity, with greater awareness linked to preserved activation in specific brain regions.

The Respiratory Resistance Sensitivity Task: An Automated Method for Quantifying Respiratory Interoception and Metacognition

This paper introduces an automated method to measure respiratory interoception and metacognition using a computer-controlled apparatus.

The heart rate discrimination task: a psychophysical method to estimate the accuracy and precision of interoceptive beliefs

The paper introduces a psychophysical task to measure cardiac interoceptive beliefs and finds they are biased, less precise, and linked to poorer metacognitive insight.

Relationship between systolic blood pressure and decision-making during emotional processing

The paper examines how systolic blood pressure changes during emotional processing affect decision-making, finding that increased SBP correlates with accuracy and slows response times during anger priming.

Interoception of breathing and its relationship with anxiety

This study investigates how anxiety relates to interoceptive processing of breathing using fMRI and computational models, finding that anxiety traits affect interoceptive prediction certainty and errors in the anterior insula.

Dissociating breathlessness symptoms from mood in asthma

This study investigates the relationship between breathlessness symptoms, mood, and interoception in asthma patients and healthy controls, finding that negative mood affects interoceptive sensitivity and attention.

The Filter Detection Task for measurement of breathing-related interoception and metacognition

The paper introduces a task and analysis procedure to quantify breathing-related interoception dimensions using simulated and empirical data.

Neural divergence and convergence for attention to and detection of interoceptive and somatosensory stimuli

The paper investigates neural convergence and divergence of interoceptive and somatosensory signals using a signal detection task and psycho-physiological interaction analysis.

Serotonergic Effects on Interoception

This study investigates how acute serotonin changes affect interoceptive cognition, finding that SSRIs enhance confidence in interoceptive judgments without altering cardiac or subjective effects.

Feeling the beat: Temporal and spatial perception of heartbeat sensations

This study investigates temporal and spatial perception of heartbeat sensations, finding no relationship between them but a link between spatial precision and state anxiety.