Multidimensional markers of a novel sync-based measure of interoception

FITTIPALDI, SOL; PASCARIELLO, GUIDO; HILDEBRANDT, MALIN; MARTORELL CARO, MIGUEL; SEDEÑO, LUCAS; DE LA FUENTE, LAURA; SALAMONE, PAULA; PAUTASSI, RICARDO; GARCÍA, ADOLFO M.; ABREVAYA, SOFÍA; BIRBA, AGUSTINA; ALARCO, SOFÍA; YORIS, ADRIÁN; IBÁÑEZ, AGUSTÍN

Chicago

Conferencia; 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience; 2019

Society for Neuroscience

Introduction: Interoception (i.e., the sensing of inner-body signals) has proven relevant for constraining socio-emotional processing models and advancing clinically applicable tools for neuropsychiatric conditions. Research on this area is typically based on heartbeat detection (HBD) tasks, in which subjects track their own heartbeats to yield a measure of interoceptive accuracy (IA). However, the lack of standard methods to calculate IA, alongside major caveats in the most typical measurement approaches, has led to inconsistencies and controversies in the field. Against this background, the present study aimed to validate a newly developed IA measure that overcomes several recognized limitations of other metrics. Specifically, our measure taps on the subjects? ability to dynamically adjust their HBD performance in synchrony with cardiac frequency changes, thus offering a more sensitive approach to the phenomenon. Methods: We obtained electrocardiographic and high-density electroencephalographic recordings from 114 healthy volunteers (aged between 17 and 84) as they performed a validated HBD task in which they were instructed to press a key following their heartbeats. IA was calculated as the absolute difference between cardiac frequency (mean R-R) and inter-response intervals, with lower scores indicating better performance. A subsample of participants also took part in a resting-state fMRI session (n = 72) and a social cognition assessment (n = 50). We analyzed the associations of IA index with canonical markers of interoception, including modulations of the heart-evoked potential (HEP), functional connectivity (FC) patterns, and socio-cognitive performance. Additional analyses were performed to compare results with those obtained through the use of typical interoceptive measures (Schandry and d? indexes).Results: IA was positively correlated with HEP amplitude in a window of 300-400 ms after the R-wave peak over fronto-central topographies. Also, IA was negatively associated with FC among interoceptive hubs, including the insular, anterior cingulate, and postcentral cortices. Finally, IA was negatively correlated with the capacity to recognize negative emotions. Discussion: Our synchrony-based IA measure was related to multidimensional markers of interoception, highlighting its validity. The development and dissemination of this and other robust interoceptive metrics is crucial to achieve consensus and foster progress in the field.