Detection, discrimination and sensation of visceral stimuli

Afferent visceral signals serve mostly regulatory functions and produce vague, diffuse body sensations, which are not well reflected in experimental paradigms requiring distinct and localized 'visceral perceptions'. A series of studies is summarized which compared behavioral discrimination of gastrointestinal distension stimuli with subjective sensation ratings in relation to basic perceptual operations such as detection, localization, graduation, and identification. Results showed that detection of gastrointestinal stimuli is possible without the subject's awareness (discrimination without reportable sensation). This process does not depend on stimulus intensity at volumes below those sufficient for subjective sensation. The latter is necessary, however, for intensity discrimination (graduation). Contrary to exteroception (e.g. vision), conscious subjective sensation is also required for stimulus localization. These differences in processing could not be explained by simple differences in response criteria. An intensity-dependent two-process model of gastrointestinal interoception is derived which differs from standard models of somatosensory information processing.