Interoception provides a link for the affective and cognitive mechanisms of embodiment. fMRI stud... more Interoception provides a link for the affective and cognitive mechanisms of embodiment. fMRI studies suggest that brain areas known to mediate selective attention, are also relevant for interoceptive awareness (IA). Yet the relationship between attention, embodiment and interoception is poorly understood. This study attempts to understand this relationship by considering whether IA is possible when attention is compromised. Using two versions of an IA task, the standard mental tracking task (MMT) and a modified version of the same task, the IA of 20 healthy participants (9 female, 11 male) was measured. A significant difference in mean IA was shown between the tasks with the modified mental tracking task (MMTT) showing greater sensitivity. These findings suggest that IA is possible even when attention is compromised which supports somatic theories such as the somatic marker hypothesis. Most importantly this implies that IA may be a good measure of somatic awareness and may be useful as a measure in body psychotherapy research and clinical practice.
Interoception provides a link for the affective and cognitive mechanisms of embodiment. fMRI stud... more Interoception provides a link for the affective and cognitive mechanisms of embodiment. fMRI studies suggest that brain areas known to mediate selective attention, are also relevant for interoceptive awareness (IA). Yet the relationship between attention, embodiment and interoception is poorly understood. This study attempts to understand this relationship by considering whether IA is possible when attention is compromised. Using two versions of an IA task, the standard mental tracking task (MMT) and a modified version of the same task, the IA of 20 healthy participants (9 female, 11 male) was measured. A significant difference in mean IA was shown between the tasks with the modified mental tracking task (MMTT) showing greater sensitivity. These findings suggest that IA is possible even when attention is compromised which supports somatic theories such as the somatic marker hypothesis. Most importantly this implies that IA may be a good measure of somatic awareness and may be useful as a measure in body psychotherapy research and clinical practice.
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