Body maps for interoceptive sensibility and ruminations from pitch perception

Abstract

Interoception, our body's internal sensing of its physiological state, is central to emotional awareness. A key challenge lies in developing precise measurements tailored to specific body regions and systems. We examined the connection between interoceptive sensibility as assessed by subjective report on interoceptive awareness and body sensation maps, drawing insights from a sound evaluation task from 508 healthy participants. To further elucidate a missing link to rumination trait to the interoceptive awareness, we explored the link between these bodily maps and rumination, a cognitive process often intertwined with depression. Our results revealed that individuals with enhanced interoceptive sensibility distinctly localized their responses to sound in a certain body regions compared to insensitive individuals. In contrast, patterns of rumination were diffuse, in line with prior study on depression and alexithymia. These insights suggest the possibility that body sensation maps may be a useful tool for assessing interoceptive capabilities, highlighting the importance of considering individual differences in cognitive and affective assessments on psychological studies on music and sound.