Interindividual differences in interoception modulate behavior and brain responses in emotional inference.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Emotional experiences are theorized to stem from interpreting bodily signals (interoceptive inferences).
• Accurate access to interoceptive information is crucial for recognizing emotions.
• Empirical evidence and the neural underpinnings of interoceptive inferences remain underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify brain regions processing dynamic emotional expressions.
• To investigate if interoceptive accuracy (IAcc) or interoceptive sensitivity (IS) influences the benefit from emotional valence probabilities.
• To explore the role of brain regions associated with individual IAcc and IS in emotion processing.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with healthy volunteers.
• Probabilistic emotion classification task using dynamic facial expressions.
• Assessment of interoceptive accuracy via Heartbeat Detection Task (HDT) and interoceptive sensitivity via MAIA-2.

Main Results:

• Higher IS correlated with greater benefit from emotional valence probabilities.
• Processing predictable emotions activated bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and posterior insula.
• Individual IAcc scores positively correlated with brain responses to surprising emotions in the insula and caudate nucleus.
• IAcc is associated with enhanced processing of interoceptive prediction errors in the anterior insula.
• Higher IS linked to increased attention to interoceptive changes in the posterior insula and ventral prefrontal cortex.

Conclusions:

• Interoceptive accuracy is linked to processing prediction errors in emotional perception.
• Interoceptive sensitivity may involve heightened attention to bodily signals.
• This research provides neural insights into how bodily awareness shapes emotional experience and recognition.