Main description:

The monograph aims to present the recent scientific knowledge on body sensations, i.e., conscious experiences that are localized or felt in the body from an internal perspective, regardless of their sensory origin. It summarizes the basic philosophical, evolutionary, neuroanatomical, psychological, and pathological aspects of the topic. Moreover, related phenomena, such as emotions, the placebo and nocebo effect, complementary and alternative medicine, and mind-body practices are discussed from the perspective of body sensations.

Contents:

Foreword.............................................................................................................................................. 5

Preface.................................................................................................................................................. 6

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 9

The importance of body sensations............................................................................................ 9

A brief history of the scientific research on interoception........................................................ 10

Predictive processing................................................................................................................ 21

Structure of the book................................................................................................................ 25

Chapter 1. How did it start? An evolutionary approach to consciousness......................................... 27

The end of the paradise and its consequences.......................................................................... 27

The roots of subjectivity........................................................................................................... 31

Higher consciousness................................................................................................................ 35

Summary................................................................................................................................... 38

Take-home messages................................................................................................................ 38

Chapter 2. From the body to the brain: The biological background.................................................. 40

Homeostatic (afferent interoceptive) pathways........................................................................ 42

Somatosensory pathways.......................................................................................................... 48

Integration................................................................................................................................. 51

Affective aspects....................................................................................................................... 53

The origins of the self............................................................................................................... 56

A final word on body sensations............................................................................................... 61

Summary................................................................................................................................... 62

Take-home messages................................................................................................................ 62

Chapter 3. What can we sense? Individual differences in interoceptive accuracy............................ 63

General methodological considerations.................................................................................... 63

Early conditioning studies........................................................................................................ 66

Visceral modalities 1 - Heartbeat............................................................................................. 69

Visceral modalities 2 - Blood pressure.................................................................................... 78

Visceral modalities 3 - Respiratory modalities........................................................................ 79

Visceral modalities 4 - Gastric modalities............................................................................... 81

Visceral modalities 5 - Intestinal modalities............................................................................ 84

Visceral modalities 6 - Urinary system.................................................................................... 86

Visceral modalities 7 - Sexual excitement............................................................................... 87

Visceral modalities 8 - Other modalities.................................................................................. 88

Further homeostatic modalities 1 - Temperature..................................................................... 91

Further homeostatic modalities 2 - Itch................................................................................... 92

Further homeostatic modalities 3 - Pain.................................................................................. 93

Further homeostatic modalities 4 - Sensual or limbic touch.................................................... 96

Further homeostatic modalities 5 - Muscle fatigue and perceived exertion............................ 97

Further homeostatic modalities 6 - Smell and taste................................................................. 98

Somatosensory modalities 1 - Muscle tension and exertion.................................................... 99

Somatosensory modalities 2 - Joint position and movement................................................. 102

Somatosensory modalities 3 - Vestibular information........................................................... 103

Somatosensory modalities 4 - Tactile information................................................................. 104

The question of generalizability............................................................................................. 105

Pathological considerations.................................................................................................... 108

Summary................................................................................................................................. 108

Take-home messages............................................................................................................... 113

Chapter 4. What do we perceive? Individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity..................... 114

Introduction............................................................................................................................. 114

Historical roots........................................................................................................................ 115

Symptom reports..................................................................................................................... 116

Self-focused attention and body awareness............................................................................ 119

Issues with attention 1............................................................................................................ 122

The tingling sensation............................................................................................................. 125

Issues with attention 2............................................................................................................ 128

Bottom-up interoceptive attention - Early ideas.................................................................... 131

Bottom-up interoceptive attention - Reaction time tests........................................................ 134

Top-down interoceptive attention - Monitoring tendency..................................................... 135

Acute and generalized interoceptive sensibility..................................................................... 137

The evaluative aspect.............................................................................................................. 139

Summary................................................................................................................................. 142

Take-home messages.............................................................................................................. 144

Chapter 5. Can we trust our feelings? The discrepancy between actual and perceived events....... 145

Dissociable and non-dissociable modalities........................................................................... 145

Dissociation between actual and perceived events................................................................. 147

The perceptual accuracy hypothesis....................................................................................... 149

Models of hypochondriasis..................................................................................................... 150

Anxiety and stress - From repression to cardiovascular reactivity........................................ 151

False heart rate feedback studies and once again on the Schandry-test................................. 153

Interoceptive awareness.......................................................................................................... 155

Philosophical speculations...................................................................................................... 159

What about non-dissociable modalities?................................................................................ 159

Summary................................................................................................................................. 160

Take-home messages............................................................................................................. 162

Chapter 6. Putting everything together - Integrated models and pathological aspects of internal perception.......................................................................................................................................................... 163

Introduction............................................................................................................................. 163

The bottom-up approach 1 - Naive realism........................................................................... 164

The bottom-up approach 2 - Linear (unidirectional) models of symptom perception........... 165

Negative affect....................................................................................................................... 169

The top-down approach 1 - Non-linear models..................................................................... 172

The top-down approach 2 - Expectations.............................................................................. 175

The top-down approach 3 - Predictive processing................................................................. 178

The pathological aspects: dissociation, conversion, somatization......................................... 182

An example: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity...................................................................... 185

Summary................................................................................................................................. 188

Take-home messages.............................................................................................................. 188

Chapter 7. Interoception and emotions............................................................................................ 189

# to be completed.................................................................................................................... 189

Chapter 8. Negative consequences of what we don't feel or mistakenly feel.................................. 190

# to be completed.................................................................................................................... 190

Chapter 9. Positive consequences what we feel, accurately or mistakenly..................................... 191

# to be completed.................................................................................................................... 191

Epilogue........................................................................................................................................... 192

# to be completed.................................................................................................................... 192

References........................................................................................................................................ 193