Cardiac interoception in action: Modulation after a stress induction with a speech task

Interoception has mostly been examined at rest and as a trait variable. However, preliminary research suggests that interoceptive processes might fluctuate in response to external demands. This study aimed to investigate whether cardiac interoception would change in response to acute stress.

A sample of 139 adult non-clinical individuals performed either a 3-minute unprepared speech (Stress condition) or a reading task (Control condition). Cardiac interoception was measured using the heart rate discrimination task (HRD), together with self-report measures, which were administered before and after the speech or reading task. The HRD measures both interoceptive sensitivity (i.e., the ability to discriminate between faster and slower tone sequences relative to one's own heart rate) and metacognitive sensitivity (i.e., the capacity to evaluate the accuracy of one's decisions based on confidence ratings), along with other measures such as cardiac belief bias and precision.

Participants in the Stress (vs. Control) condition showed a significant increase in interoceptive sensitivity (d'). Participants in the Stress condition also reported paying greater attention to their heart signals during the oral task compared to those in the Control condition. No significant effects were observed in other interoceptive outcomes.

These findings suggest that the sensitivity in processing cardiac signals, along with increased self-reported attention to them, might be enhanced when facing acute stress. Future research should confirm this interoceptive pattern and investigate whether it is preserved or impaired in clinical populations.