Social Antecedents to the Development of Interoception: Attachment Related Processes Are Associated With...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Developmental Science

Background:

• Early social experiences profoundly influence brain development, particularly areas related to body representation.
• Interoception, the sense of the body's internal state, is susceptible to environmental input during protracted development.
• Attachment and parenting styles are key social factors that may shape interoceptive network development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between attachment styles and interoceptive awareness in adults.
• To examine the association between parenting styles and the congruence of emotional and physiological responses in youth.
• To understand how social experiences influence the development of interoceptive functioning.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Assessed self-reported interoceptive awareness and attachment style in 132 healthy young adults using validated questionnaires.
• Study 2: Examined the congruence between self-reported negative emotion and sympathetic nervous system arousal in youth, correlating it with maternal-reported parental rejection of negative emotion.

Main Results:

• Avoidant attachment was linked to lower interoceptive functioning, while anxious attachment was associated with heightened interoceptive awareness.
• Parental rejection of negative emotions correlated with lower congruence between youth's self-reported distress and physiological arousal.
• Findings indicate that early social experiences shape the ability to integrate internal emotional and physiological signals.

Conclusions:

• Attachment security is associated with interoceptive functioning in adults.
• Parenting practices, specifically the rejection of negative emotions, impact a youth's interoceptive accuracy.
• Social experiences play a critical role in the development of the interoceptive system and emotional regulation.