Bridging interoception and time perspective: toward an embodied model of consciousness.

People who are more aware of internal bodily signals (interoceptive awareness) report better sleep and digestion, and this link is partly explained by having a balanced time perspective—an even orientation toward past, present, and future. The findings suggest that sensing the body helps regulate conscious experience not just through automatic bodily processes but also through how people think about time. This supports a model where bodily awareness and temporal orientation work together to maintain psychological and physical stability.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that the ability to sense internal bodily signals, interoceptive awareness, is central to embodied consciousness and adaptive self-regulation. Yet, the cognitive mechanisms by which interoceptive processes shape the continuity of conscious experience remain insufficiently understood. One such mechanism may be time perspective, a framework reflecting individuals' orientation toward the past, present, and future, which structures how consciousness unfolds in temporal context. Methods: In a non-clinical sample of 152 adults, participants completed validated measures of interoceptive awareness (MAIA), time perspective (ZTPI), and self-rated indicators of somatic experience, including sleep quality and digestion. Results: Analyses showed that individuals with higher interoceptive awareness reported more adaptive somatic functioning, and that a balanced time perspective partially accounted for these associations. This suggests that interoception influences conscious self-regulation not only through autonomic processes, but also via temporal cognition. Conclusion: These findings support a neurocognitive framework of embodied consciousness, in which interoceptive awareness and temporal orientation interact to maintain psychological and physiological stability. By linking bodily awareness with temporal cognition, this study provides preliminary empirical evidence for a functional feedback loop that grounds conscious experience in the body and time. This perspective opens avenues for future experimental and longitudinal research, as well as for clinical applications such as mindfulness and time-oriented interventions to strengthen embodied self-awareness and temporal balance.