Behavioral Inhibition Underlies the Link Between Interoceptive Sensitivity and Anxiety-Related Temperamental Traits

Penalized canonical correlation analysis reveals a relationship between temperament traits and brain oscillations during mind wandering

INTRODUCTION

There has been a growing interest in studying brain activity under naturalistic conditions. However, the relationship between individual differences in ongoing brain activity and psychological characteristics is not well understood. We investigated this connection, focusing on the association between oscillatory activity in the brain and individually characteristic dispositional traits. Given the variability of unconstrained resting states among individuals, we devised a paradigm that could harmonize the state of mind across all participants.

METHODS

We constructed task contrasts that included focused attention (FA), self-centered future planning, and rumination on anxious thoughts triggered by visual imagery. Magnetoencephalography was recorded from 28 participants under these 3 conditions for a duration of 16 min. The oscillatory power in the alpha and beta bands was converted into spatial contrast maps, representing the difference in brain oscillation power between the two conditions. We performed permutation cluster tests on these spatial contrast maps. Additionally, we applied penalized canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to study the relationship between brain oscillation patterns and behavioral traits.

RESULTS

The data revealed that the FA condition, as compared to the other conditions, was associated with higher alpha and beta power in the temporal areas of the left hemisphere and lower alpha and beta power in the parietal areas of the right hemisphere. Interestingly, the penalized CCA indicated that behavioral inhibition was positively correlated, whereas anxiety was negatively correlated, with a pattern of high oscillatory power in the bilateral precuneus and low power in the bilateral temporal regions. This unique association was found in the anxious-thoughts condition when contrasted with the focused-attention condition.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest individual temperament traits significantly affect brain engagement in naturalistic conditions. This research underscores the importance of considering individual traits in neuroscience and offers an effective method for analyzing brain activity and psychological differences.

Interoceptive beliefs moderate the link between physiological and emotional arousal during an acute stressor

Growing work suggests that interoception, that is, representations of one's internal bodily changes, plays a role in shaping emotional experiences. Past studies primarily examine how behavioral accuracy in detecting interoceptive signals (interoceptive ability) relates to emotional states, with less work examining self-reported interoceptive facets such as the characterizations of one's interoceptive abilities (interoceptive sensibility) or evaluative beliefs about the value versus danger of interoceptive signals (interoceptive beliefs). However, existing studies rarely examine physiological reactivity, behavioral, and self-reported dimensions of interoception together in the same sample. As such, it remains unclear whether and how much individual differences in interoceptive facets uniquely and in interaction with physiological reactivity may matter for emotional experience. Herein, 250 healthy young adults completed a heartbeat detection task assessing interoceptive ability and questionnaire measures of interoceptive sensibility and beliefs during an initial laboratory visit. At a follow-up session, 227 participants returned to undergo an acute psychosocial stressor. Measures of physiological arousal such as preejection period (PEP) and heart rate variability were acquired throughout the stressor with self-reported emotions acquired immediately after. Linear regressions revealed that greater sympathetic nervous system reactivity (i.e., PEP), poorer interoceptive ability (i.e., accuracy), and less positive interoceptive beliefs were related to more intense high arousal emotions during the stressor. Importantly, across models, interoceptive beliefs was the only interoceptive facet to moderate the concordance between physiological and emotional arousal. Implications for psychological theories of emotion, stress, and interoception are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cardiac interoception in infants: Behavioral and neurophysiological measures in various emotional and self-related contexts

Interoception, the perception of internal bodily signals, is fundamental to our sense of self. Even though theoretical accounts suggest an important role for interoception in the development of the self, empirical investigations are limited, particularly in infancy. Previous studies used preferential-looking paradigms to assess the detection of sensorimotor and multisensory contingencies in infancy, usually related to proprioception and touch. So far, only one recent study reported that infants discriminated between audiovisual stimuli presented synchronously or asynchronously with their heartbeat. This discrimination was related to the amplitude of the infant's heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP), a neural correlate of interoception. In the current study, we measured looking preferences between synchronous and asynchronous visuocardiac (bimodal), and audiovisuocardiac (trimodal) stimuli as well as the HEP in conditions of different emotional contexts and with different degrees of self-relatedness in a mirror-like setup. While the infants preferred trimodal to bimodal stimuli, we did not observe the predicted differences between synchronous and asynchronous stimulation. Furthermore, the HEP was not modulated by emotional context or self-relatedness. These findings do not support previously published results and highlight the need for further studies on the early development of interoception in relation to the development of the self.

An Integrative Model of Youth Anxiety: Cognitive-Affective Processes and Parenting in Developmental Context

Multiple theoretical frameworks have been proposed to provide a more comprehensive picture of the risk factors that influence anxiety-related developmental trajectories. Nonetheless, there remains a need for an integrative model that outlines: (1) which risk factors may be most pertinent at different points in development, and (2) how parenting may maintain, exacerbate, or attenuate an affective style that is characterized by high negative emotional reactivity to unfamiliar, uncertain, and threatening situations. A developmentally informed, integrative model has the potential to guide treatment development and delivery, which is critical to reducing the public health burden associated with these disorders. This paper outlines a model integrating research on many well-established risk mechanisms for anxiety disorders, focusing on (1) the developmental progression from emotional reactivity constructs early in life to those involving higher-level cognitive processes later in youth, and (2) potential pathways by which parenting may impact the stability of youth's cognitive-affective responses to threat-relevant information across development.

The self-reported stress and stressors in tram and long-haul truck drivers

Work stress may compromise professional drivers' health and driving capacity. Differences between driver groups in terms of on-duty stress are understudied. Therefore, we examined self-reported stress (Stockholm University Stress Scale) of shift-working tram and long-haul truck drivers (n = 75) across 2-3 weeks. Furthermore, stressors were self-reported retrospectively and categorised as related to the job, driving conditions, personal, or other causes. Stress levels were generally low, but moderate to high stress (≥6) was more frequently reported among the tram drivers. Stressors related to the job (54%) and driving conditions (19% of all shifts) were frequently reported among the tram and truck drivers, respectively. Moderate to high stress was associated with categorised stressors related to the job and other causes among the tram drivers, and all categorised stressors among the truck drivers. Altogether, self-reported stress and stressors differ by driver group, but the role of shift type is less significant.

Two Measures of Interoceptive Sensibility and the Relationship With Introversion and Neuroticism in an Adult Population

Interoception, the ability to detect internal bodily signals, is vital for an individual's well-being and is increasingly connected to mental health disorders. Research investigating relationships between individual differences in interoception and personality types is limited, and mixed results are reported across a variety of interoceptive tasks, measures, and conceptualisations. Guided by biological theories, this study contributed further to the understanding of the relationship between interoception and personality by utilising two interoceptive measures. A sample of adults (N = 114) completed three questionnaires online questionnaire, two assessing interoceptive sensibility (Body Perception Questionnaire, BPQ; and the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, MAIA) and one that assessed personality (Eysenck Personality Inventory, EPI). Multiple regression and correlational analyses showed no significant relationship between interoceptive sensibility and introversion, whereas a predictive relationship was demonstrated between interoceptive sensibility and neuroticism. Furthermore, the BPQ and subscales of the MAIA predicted neuroticism in different directions suggesting the two measures assess different constructs and thus strengthened support for a multidimensional consideration of interoception. The results have clinical implications, including the targeting of contemplative training approaches for individuals demonstrating high interoceptive sensibility and neurotic traits to improve the mental well-being of healthy individuals and clinical populations.

Somatosensory Deviance Detection ERPs and Their Relationship to Analogous Auditory ERPs and Interoceptive Accuracy

Abstract. Automatic deviance detection has been widely explored in terms of mismatch responses (mismatch negativity or mismatch response) and P3a components of event-related potentials (ERPs) under a predictive coding framework; however, the somatosensory mismatch response has been investigated less often regarding the different types of changes than its auditory counterpart. It is not known whether the deviance detection responses from different modalities correlate, reflecting a general prediction error mechanism of the central nervous system. Furthermore, interoceptive functions have been associated with predictive coding theory, but whether interoceptive accuracy correlates with deviance detection brain responses has rarely been investigated. Here, we measured ERPs to changes in somatosensory stimuli’s location and intensity and in sound intensity in healthy adults ( n = 34). Interoceptive accuracy was measured with a heartbeat discrimination task, where participants indicated whether their heartbeats were simultaneous or non-simultaneous with sound stimuli. We found a mismatch response and a P3a response to somatosensory location and auditory intensity changes, but for somatosensory intensity changes, only a P3a response was found. Unexpectedly, there were neither correlations between the somatosensory location deviance and intensity deviance brain responses nor between auditory and somatosensory brain responses. In addition, the brain responses did not correlate with interoceptive accuracy. The results suggest that although deviance detection in the auditory and somatosensory modalities are likely based on similar neural mechanisms at a cellular level, their ERP indexes do not indicate a linear association in sensitivity for deviance detection between the modalities. Furthermore, although sensory deviance detection and interoceptive detection are both associated with predictive coding functions, under these experimental settings, functional relationships were not observed. These results should be taken into account in the future development of theories related to human sensory functions and in extensions of the predictive coding theory in particular.

Interactions between interoception and perspective-taking: Current state of research and future directions

Interoception, the sense of the physiological state of the body, and perspective-taking, the ability to take another's point of view, are two fundamental components contributing to our perception and interaction with the external world. However, whether the perception of our inner body influences how we perceive the external world and other people remains poorly understood. Here, we review recent behavioural and neuroimaging evidence investigating the links between dimensions of interoception (i.e., accuracy, sensibility and awareness) and perspective-taking (i.e., affective, cognitive and visual). So far, only a limited subset of these dimensions has been investigated together and the results suggest that interoceptive abilities may only interact with perspective-taking when embodied mental transformations are required. Furthermore, mainly the emotional aspects of perspective-taking are related to interoception, influencing the ability to empathise with others. Future research should systematically investigate the links between all dimensions of interoception and perspective-taking to provide full understanding of the specific role interoception has on how we perceive the world and take another's point of view.

Intensified Job Demands and Cognitive Stress Symptoms: The Moderator Role of Individual Characteristics

Intensified job demands (IJDs) originate in the general accelerated pace of society and ever-changing working conditions, which subject workers to increasing workloads and deadlines, constant planning and decision-making about one’s job and career, and the continual learning of new professional knowledge and skills. This study investigated how individual characteristics, namely negative and positive affectivity related to competence demands, and multitasking preference moderate the association between IJDs and cognitive stress symptoms among media workers (n = 833; 69% female, mean age 48 years). The results show that although IJDs were associated with higher cognitive stress symptoms at work, that is, difficulties in concentration, thinking clearly, decision-making, and memory, competence demands-related negative affectivity explained the most variance in cognitive stress symptoms. In addition, IJDs were more strongly associated with cognitive stress symptoms at work in individuals with high competence demand-related negative affectivity, and low multitasking preference (moderation effects). Altogether, the present findings suggest that HR practices or workplace interventions to ease employees’ negative affectivity from increasing competence demands at work could usefully support employees’ effective cognitive functioning when confronted with IJDs.