The role of interoception in learned visceral control

Research concerned with the psychology and physiology of interoceptive processes is reviewed with the purpose of evaluating theoretical formulations of learned visceral control. Basic animal research in interoception provides relevant information; however, much research dealing directly with interoception and learned control is inadequate due either to inappropriate measurement of interoceptive ability or to poor experimental design. The two primary theoretical orientations linking interoception and learned visceral control differ according to the role ascribed to external feedback; the first views feedback as an enhancement of interoceptive cues, the second as an enhancement of exteroceptive cues. These theories are discussed with regard to recent investigations of learned visceral control.