Addressing the need for new interoceptive methods

Abstract

Internal bodily signals are dynamically coupled to brain dynamics; interoception, the 'sensing' of internal signals, can influence cognition, emotion and perception. An appreciation of the wide-ranging implications of interoceptive processing has surpassed the range and breadth of available interoceptive methods. New techniques are required to support the scientific study of interoception and this special issue brings together a diverse array of novel interoceptive methods and assessments, spanning psychophysiology, experimental psychology, affective neuroscience and computational approaches, divided into 5 core sections. Section 1 presents novel theoretical and computational models of interoception, while section two brings together a range of perspectives on questionnaire measures of interoception. Section 3 is devoted to the development of novel methods to assess interoception in behavioral tasks and section 4 focuses on the validity and confounds present in a range of methods used to assess interoception. Finally, section 5 details new methodological insights of interoception in the domains of emotion, cognition and health. Improved interoceptive methods are needed to progress this field; greater precision in techniques and core interoceptive constructs will aid in the mapping of interoceptive measures to cognition and emotion factors, as well as help to elucidate precise interoceptive alterations observed in clinical conditions.

Keywords: Interoception; Interoceptive methods.