The Body across the Lifespan: On the Relation between Interoceptive Sensibility and High-Order Body Representations

Abstract

Background: Interoceptive information plays a pivotal role in building higher-order cognitive body representations (BR) that neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence classifies as action-oriented (i.e., body schema) or non-action-oriented (i.e., visuo-spatial body map). This study aimed to explore the development of BR, considering the association with the interoceptive sensibility throughout the lifespan. Methods: Two hundred thirty-nine healthy participants divided into five age groups (7 to 8 years; 9 to 10 years; 18 to 40 years; 41 to 60 years; over 60 years) completed a self-report measure of interoceptive sensibility (the Self-Awareness Questionnaire; SAQ) and were given tasks assessing the two BR (action-oriented: hand laterality task; non-action-oriented: frontal body evocation task). Results: Both children (7–8 and 9–10 years) and older adults (over 60 years) performed worse than young (18–40 years) and middle-aged adults (41–60 years) in action- and non-action-oriented BR tasks. Moderation analyses showed that the SAQ score significantly moderated the relationship between age and action-oriented BR. Conclusions: The current results are consistent with inverted U-shaped developmental curves for action- and non-action-oriented BR. As an innovative aspect, the ability to mentally represent one’s own body parts in diverse states could be negatively affected by higher interoceptive sensibility levels in childhood and late adulthood.

Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind across Adulthood

“…Two hundred and thirty-eight healthy individuals participated in this study. They were grouped according to adulthood stage [ 28 , 37 , 38 ] into five age bands: the group of young adults consisted of 50 participants aged from 18 to 40 years old; the group of youngest-middle adults consisted of 50 participants aged from 41 to 50 years old; the group of middle adults consisted of 50 participants aged from 51 to 60 years old; the group of youngest-old adults consisted of 50 participants aged from 61 to 70 years old; and the group of middle-old adults consisted of 38 participants aged from 71 to 80 years old. Each age group was composed of 50 participants including 25 females and 25 males, but the middle-old adult group was composed of 18 females and 20 males.…”

Body image disturbance, interoceptive sensibility and the body schema across female adulthood: a pre-registered study

“…However, the interactions between body image and interoception are complex as both concepts are multidimensional ( Khalsa et al, 2018 ; Prnjak et al, 2022 ) and are independently influenced by individual differences, especially age e.g., body image: ( Tiggemann, 2004 ; Karazsia et al, 2017 ; Hockey et al, 2021 ; Lacroix et al, 2023 ), interoception: ( Murphy et al, 2018 ; Raimo et al, 2021 ). As such, it is unclear how both body image and interoception interact with the body schema within the context of influential sociodemographic characteristics such as age.…”

Specialization and Injury Risk in Different Youth Sports: A Bio-Emotional Social Approach

“…Interoception also means one’s sense of the physiological condition of the body, and provides a basis for subjective feelings and emotions ( Craig, 2003 ). Many studies have suggested that individuals having a stronger interoceptive ability report more intense emotions ( Murphy et al, 2019 ), place more emphasis on the dimension of arousal in reporting their emotional experience ( Barrett and Simmons, 2015 ), and manifest a stronger link between their bodily reactions to emotional stimuli and their subjective arousal ratings ( Raimo et al, 2021 ).…”