Rumble Recognition: a gastrointestinal sound discrimination task to measure gastrointestinal interoception

Gastrointestinal interoception is the sensing, interpretation and integration of signals originating from the gut. In contrast to chemosensory aspects of gut-brain signalling, perceptual aspects of gastrointestinal viscerosensation and visceromotor control have received relatively little attention despite links to physical and mental health and wellbeing. To facilitate research into these aspects of interoception, we developed a novel gastrointestinal sound discrimination task, Rumble Recognition, to measure gastrointestinal interoceptive accuracy, self-beliefs, and metacognitive insight in three ecologically valid conditions; following a 3-hour fast, after drinking sparkling water, and after consuming a high-protein meal replacement shake. The discrimination task used a two-interval forced choice design to assess gastrointestinal interoceptive performance accuracy alongside self-reported confidence from which a measure of metacognitive insight was computed. This novel task was tested for proof-of-principle in a healthy sample (n = 45; 68% women), and we demonstrated its feasibility, tolerability, and ability to yield parameters relevant naturalistic experiences including reported experience of hunger. The task is fully automated, requires minimal, affordable equipment, and is freely available via open source code. We anticipate this task can facilitate research in this important, expanding and clinically relevant domain.