From Body to Brain and Back: Multimodal Evidence for Interoceptive Alterations in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
medRxiv Preprint Server January 13, 2026 Deniz Yilmaz, Lena Deller, Johanna Spaeth et al. preprint
Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) involve pervasive disturbances in how the brain processes internal bodily signals—a function called interoception. In a cross-sectional observational study, 53 people with SSD and 60 matched healthy controls completed a heartbeat counting task and EEG recordings. People with SSD showed altered subjective interoceptive awareness, including impaired regulation and negative bodily appraisal, along with elevated depersonalization. Their interoceptive accuracy was marginally lower, and their heartbeat evoked potentials were attenuated, especially during the heartbeat counting task, over centro-parietal regions. Depersonalization was the most consistent correlate of clinical severity. These findings suggest interoceptive dysfunction is a central, trait-like feature of SSD.