Interoceptive Associations in Addiction to Smoked Cocaine

LUCAS SEDEÑO; SILVINA SONZOGNI; VIGNAGA, SOFIA SCHURMANN; ENZO TAGLIAZUCCHI; LAURA BELLUCIO; TERESA TORRALVA; LAURA ALETHIA DE LA FUENTE; CAMILA ELLMANN; EDUARDO CÁNEPA; AGUSTIN IBAÑEZ

Córdoba, Argentina

Congreso; XXXIII Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience; 2018

SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE INVESTIGACIÓN EN NEUROCIENCIAS

Contemporary neurocognitive models of drug addiction underscored the role of interoception. In these models, interoception is defined as the sensing and processing of body signals to serve a homeostatic function related to the onset and maintenance of addictive-behavior. In this work, we assess the relation between interoception and smoked cocaine dependence with a multimodal and multidimensional approach. We use the Hearbeat-detection (HBD) task and related Heart Evoked Potential (HEP) recordings at baseline (interoceptive accuracy) and during learning. We combined this behavioral and electrophysiological data with structural and functional connectivity analysis of the main interoceptive hubs. Smoked cocaine dependent subjects presented ongoing psychophysiological measures of enhanced interoception accuracy (HBD and HEP); accompanied by structural and FC tuning of interoceptive networks. Our findings support both specialized effects of smoked cocaine on interoception and also provide direct empirical evidence for drug models suggesting that hyper-interoception processing is a key aspect in addictions. Thus, multimodal assessment of interoception could serve as a potential domain to asses clinical and neurocognitive characterization of psychophysiological and underlaying neurophysiological adaptations in addiction.