Neural Dynamics of Interoceptive Attention and Awareness: A Within-Participant fMRI Study

Abstract

Interoception, the representation of the bodys internal state, serves as a foundation for emotion, motivation, and wellbeing. Yet despite its centrality in human experience, the neural mechanisms of interoception are poorly understood. The Interoceptive/Exteroceptive Attention Task (IEAT) is a novel neuroimaging paradigm that compares behavioral tracking of the respiratory cycle (Active Interoception) to tracking of a visual stimulus (Active Exteroception). Twenty-two healthy participants completed the IEAT during two separate scanning sessions (N = 44) as part of a randomized control trial of Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT). Compared to Exteroception, Interoception deactivated somatomotor and prefrontal regions. Greater interoceptive sensibility (MAIA scale) predicted sparing from deactivation along the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and left-lateralized language regions. The right insula--typically described as a primary interoceptive cortex--was only implicated by its further deactivation during an exogenously paced respiration condition (Active Matching). Psychophysiological interaction analysis characterized Active Interoception as promoting greater ACC connectivity with lateral frontal and parietal regions commonly referred to as the Dorsal Attention Network. Interoception of the breath may therefore involve reduced cortical activity but greater connectivity, with greater sensibility sparing cortical inhibition within well-characterized attentional networks. In contrast to a literature that relates detection of liminal signals such as the heartbeat to anterior insula activity, attention towards accessible body sensations such as the breath may lead to a low activity, high connectivity state in which sensory signals from the body may be better discerned. Significance StatementInteroception, the representation of the bodys internal state, is poorly understood compared to the external senses, with existing neuroimaging studies failing to match task difficulty between interoceptive and exteroceptive tasks. The present study used a novel fMRI task to compare interoceptive and exteroceptive attention, and how this distinction was moderated by self-reported interoceptive awareness. The results implicate three novel interoceptive mechanisms: interoception reduces cortical activity while increasing connectivity, wherein awareness is linked to preserved activation of the brains salience network and left-lateralized language regions. These findings characterize interoception as a lower activity state in which awareness depends upon the ability to notice and report on body signals typically obscured by the processing of exteroceptive information and other forms of cognition.