Speaker
Description
The perception of interoceptive signals and their neural representation profoundly affect physical, mental, and cognitive health. Despite this appreciation, the developmental trajectory of interoception is relatively under-researched, particularly during adolescence, a relevant period for interoceptive learning, as many bodily changes characterize it. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the development of different interoceptive dimensions, namely, interoceptive accuracy (IAcc), sensibility (ISe), and awareness (IAw), focusing on adolescence.
Fifty-five adolescents (12-14 yrs) and forty-seven young adults (20-34 yrs) participated in the study. They completed a heartbeat counting task probing IAcc (ratio of actual to reported heartbeats) and IAw (accuracy-confidence correlation), and two questionnaires exploring ISe across bodily axes.
Adolescents were as accurate as young adults in counting their heartbeats, suggesting an adult-like pattern in accurately processing interoceptive information (IAcc). However, when evaluating their performance, they showed lower metacognition, reporting lower accuracy-confidence correlations (IAw). Also, adolescents scored significantly different from young adults on ISe questionnaires, focusing more on somatosensorial and visceral body sensations (ISe) than young adults. Furthermore, the correlational analysis showed a lack of significant associations between the interindividual variability in the different interoceptive dimensions.
As already proved in studies on adults, current results indicate that the three interoceptive dimensions (IAcc, IAw, ISe) are independent and follow distinct developmental trajectories during adolescence. Given the impact of interoception in decision-making and emotional processing, this variance could be a candidate mechanism for the increased incidence of risky behaviors and emotional difficulties in this life period.
| If you're submitting a symposium talk, what's the symposium title? | Interoception for cardiac and gastric signals: exploring individual differences and their implications for cognitive and mental health |
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| If you're submitting a symposium, or a talk that is part of a symposium, is this a junior symposium? | Yes |
