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Interoceptive signals impact visual processing: Cardiac modulation of visual body perception.

Roberta Ronchi1, Fosco Bernasconi1, Christian Pfeiffer2

  • 1Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Campus Biotech H4, Chemin des Mines 9, Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Neuroprosthetics, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Heartbeat signals enhance visual processing, particularly for body images. This cardio-visual integration involves specific brain regions, impacting how we perceive our bodies.

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Body processingCardio-visual stimulationInteroceptionTemporo-parietal cortexVisual-evoked potentials

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Research traditionally focused on external sensory input.
  • Emerging evidence shows interoceptive signals (internal body sensations) integrate with external information.
  • The impact of heartbeat signals on body image perception remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate how heartbeat synchronization influences the brain's processing of human body images.
  • Explore the spatio-temporal dynamics of cardio-visual stimulation on body perception.
  • Determine if interoceptive signals modulate visual processing of body representations.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded electroencephalography (EEG) to measure visual evoked potentials.
  • Presented participants with body images or scrambled controls.
  • Synchronized visual stimuli with participants' on-line recorded heartbeats or used non-synchronous controls.

Main Results:

  • Cardiac signals enhanced visual processing irrespective of image type at 77-130 ms and 145-246 ms.
  • A later effect (208-224 ms) showed heightened activity in specific brain regions (parietal, temporo-occipital, frontal, basal ganglia-insula) exclusively for body images synchronized with heartbeats.
  • This suggests a body-specific modulation by interoceptive signals.

Conclusions:

  • Interoceptive heartbeat signals play a crucial role in the visual processing of human body images.
  • Cardio-visual integration influences perceptual and cognitive aspects of visual body processing.
  • Neural networks integrating heartbeat and visual information are key to body perception.