An interoceptive illusion of effort induced by false heart-rate feedback

Abstract

Interoception, or the sense of the internal state of the body, is key to the adaptive regulation of our physiological needs. Recent theories contextualize interception within a predictive coding framework, according to which the brain both estimates and controls homeostatic and physiological variables, such as hunger, thirst, and effort levels, by orchestrating sensory, proprioceptive, and interoceptive signals from inside the body. This framework suggests that providing false interoceptive feedback may induce misperceptions of physiological variables, or “interoceptive illusions.” Here we ask whether it is possible to produce an illusory perception of effort by giving participants false acoustic feedback about their heart-rate frequency during an effortful cycling task. We found that participants reported higher levels of perceived effort when their heart-rate feedback was faster compared with when they cycled at the same level of intensity with a veridical feedback. However, participants did not report lower effort when their heart-rate feedback was slower, which is reassuring, given that failing to notice one’s own effort is dangerous in ecologically valid conditions. Our results demonstrate that false cardiac feedback can produce interoceptive illusions. Furthermore, our results pave the way for novel experimental manipulations that use illusions to study interoceptive processing.

Symptom Perception From a Predictive Processing Perspective

“…One of the research areas for which these new conceptualizations are particularly fruitful is interoception, which is considered to play an important role in the experience of the self, agency, emotion and psychopathology (Allen, Levy, Parr, & Friston, 2019;Iodice, Porciello, Bufalari, Barca, & Pezzulo, 2019;Pezzulo, Barca, & Friston, 2015;Pezzulo, Maisto, Barca, & Van den Bergh, 2019;Seth, 2013;Tsakiris & Preester, 2018). The Embodied Predictive Interoception Coding model (EPIC; Barrett & Simmons, 2015) describes the neural architecture and functional characteristics of interoception, suggesting a critical role for active inference: visceromotor cortices generate autonomic, hormonal and immunological predictions to adequately deal with anticipated demands while PE's are fed back to the brain to adapt and modify subsequent predictions.…”

Augmenting aesthetic chills using a wearable prosthesis improves their downstream effects on reward and social cognition

“…Here, we investigated embodied predictive coding by modulating bodily sensations underlying aesthetic chills (i.e., goosebumps, psychogenic shivers), using a device modulating cold and shiver sensations down the spine characteristic of this peak emotion. Our study is based on the paradigm of interoceptive illusions or misattribution of arousal 9 , wherein external stimulation, such as temperature change or increased heart rate, modulate the interoceptive inferences underlying decision-making to trigger predictable behavioral change 10 , 11 .…”

“…The modulation of interoceptive inferences through the controlled simulation of emotional somatic markers has shown promising results in reducing stress 16 and fear 17 . Recent evidence in favor of the model of embodied predictive coding suggests a causal relation between altering interoception and corresponding changes in emotion 10 , 11 . Modulating somatic markers and altering interoceptive inference during the phase of emotion experience may allow us to disentangle historical key questions in the field of affective neuroscience, namely the problem of causality and dynamics in emotional networks, and in turn suggest new interventions for somatic disorders 18 .…”

Virtual Body Ownership Illusions for Mental Health: A Narrative Review

“…The first aim of this approach is the development of an interoceptive simulator that can assess interoceptive time perception in clinical populations, as well as enhance heart rate variability (short-term vagally mediated component) [ 120 ], through the modulation of the parasympathetic system [ 121 ]. Similarly, others have attempted to create ‘interoceptive illusions’ by giving the participants a false acoustic feedback of their heart-rate frequency during an effortful cycling task [ 122 ]. In contrast with the full BOI, ‘interoceptive illusions’ can be induced by proving more sensory information such as vibration or acoustic feedback, instead of the visual morphological characteristics of the body.…”