Building the bodily self‐awareness: Evidence for the convergence between interoceptive and exteroceptive information in a multilevel kernel density analysis study

Abstract

Exteroceptive and interoceptive signals shape and sustain the bodily self-awareness.The existence of a set of brain areas, supporting the integration of information coming from the inside and the outside of the body in building the sense of bodily self-awareness has been postulated, yet the evidence remains limited, a matter of discussion never assessed quantitatively. With the aim of unrevealing where in the brain interoceptive and exteroceptive signals may converge, we performed a metaanalysis on imaging studies of the sense of body ownership, modulated by external visuotactile stimulation, and studies on interoception, which involves the selfawareness for internal bodily sensations. Using a multilevel kernel density analysis, we found that processing of stimuli of the two domains converges primarily in the supramarginal gyrus bilaterally. Furthermore, we found a right-lateralized set of areas, including the precentral and postcentral, and superior temporal gyri. We discuss these results and propose this set of areas as ideal candidates to match multiple body-related signals contributing to the creation of a multidimensional representation of the bodily self.

Neural divergence and convergence for attention to and detection of interoceptive and somatosensory stimuli

“…However, we did not find any differences in activation between the Cardiac and Somatosensory focus conditions within the insula or the anterior cingulate cortex, regions commonly considered to be the key elements of interoceptive processing (A. D. (Bud) Craig, 2009a; Critchley et al, 2004; Salvato et al, 2019; Schulz, 2016). Importantly though, the role of insula extends well beyond interoception and encompasses salience processing (Uddin, 2015), emotional awareness and regulation (Critchley, 2009; Phan, Wager, Taylor, & Liberzon, 2002; Shafritz, Collins, & Blumberg, 2006), as well as sensory processing and multimodal integration more generally (Avery et al, 2015; Plailly, Radnovich, Sabri, Royet, & Kareken, 2007; Simmons et al, 2013; Y.…”

“…postcentral gyrus, secondary somatosensory cortex) and as well as the set of regions associated with body self-ownership (occiptotemporal and parietal areas) (Salvato et al, 2019). Noteworthy, our results indicate that conscious perception of heartbeats is related to greater functional connectivity of the right anterior insula and SMG, the cortical region where the processing of both body ownership and interoception converges (Salvato et al, 2019). The increased connectivity of insular ROI with the occipital cortex could be part of the long-term representation of the body involving its pictorial appearance and visualization (Bauer, Díaz, et al, 2014).…”

“…Therefore, conscious detection of heartbeats was related to higher degree of communication between the right insula, the area considered a key hub of interoceptive processing (A. D. (Bud) Craig, 2003Craig, , 2009aCritchley et al, 2004), and other areas of the interoceptive network (i.e. postcentral gyrus, secondary somatosensory cortex) and as well as the set of regions associated with body self-ownership (occiptotemporal and parietal areas) (Salvato et al, 2019). Noteworthy, our results indicate that conscious perception of heartbeats is related to greater functional connectivity of the right anterior insula and SMG, the cortical region where the processing of both body ownership and interoception converges (Salvato et al, 2019).…”

Interoceptive Awareness Is Negatively Related to the Exteroceptive Manipulation of Bodily Self-Location

“…In accordance with those results, lesions of the right insula, which represent a key area for interoceptive processing (Critchley et al, 2004), decrease heartbeat awareness and alter self-location (Ronchi et al, 2015). In addition to the insula, higher-order brain areas such as the parietal cortex or the Rolandic operculum seem to integrate both interoceptive and exteroceptive signals in order to maintain bodily self-consciousness (Blefari et al, 2017;Park and Blanke, 2019;Salvato et al, 2020). Other results highlight the relevance of interoceptive information for the visual processing of the body (Ronchi et al, 2017), and this processes' impact on brain areas involved in processing cognitive aspects of body representation.…”

The neural bases of program comprehension: a coordinate-based fMRI meta-analysis

“…We employed the MKDA (Nee et al, 2007; Kober et al, 2008; Wager et al, 2009) for meta-analysis of multiple fMRI studies on program comprehension. The MKDA has been used in many coordinate-based meta-analyses on various psychological domains; e.g., bodily self-awareness (Salvato et al, 2020), moral cognition (Fede and Kiehl, 2019), subjective value (Bartra et al, 2013), and empathy (Fan et al, 2011). Neuroimaging studies typically reported peak voxel coordinates in a particular statistical contrast map (SCM).…”