Electrophysiological signature of interoceptive attention: a spectral and source localization analysis.

Summary

Interoception, the ability to perceive internal body signals, is important for self-awareness and emotion, but its neural basis is not well understood. This study used EEG source localization to examine brain activity during a heartbeat counting task in 36 healthy adults. Compared to rest, the task increased alpha frequency current density in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Changes in beta oscillations in the cingulate gyrus were related to task performance. The findings show that EEG measures of neural activation can help assess interoceptive skills and improve understanding of their brain correlates.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The ability to attend to and consciously process interoceptive signals is deemed critical for the development of minimal self, adaptive self-regulation and affective experience, and optimal expression of both instrumental and executive cognitive functions. Yet, notwithstanding the richness of theoretical proposals concerning inferential accounts of interoception, empirical evidence is still scarce. Building on such premises, this study was designed to investigate the electrophysiological signature of cognitive processes leading to aware coding of interoceptive signals via EEG source localization. Thirty-six healthy participants completed an interoceptive accuracy task, i.e., the Heartbeat Counting Task (HCT), while we collected task-related and resting state electrophysiological activity. eLORETA modelling and statistical nonparametric mapping were used to estimate intracortical current density and link such estimates to participants' performance at the task. Source analysis highlighted higher current density estimates for alpha frequencies during HCT with respect to rest, with the primary cortical generator in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Also, a set of medial cortical structures-primarily represented by the cingulate gyrus-showed significant relation between task-related changes in current density estimates for beta oscillations and HCT scores. Findings suggest the informativity of EEG task-related measures of neural activation when used to assess interoceptive skills, as well as of the potential of metrics and analysis based on source localization in the quest to improve our understanding of interoceptive accuracy and neurofunctional correlates of related active inferences.

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