Direct gaze enhances interoceptive accuracy

Isomura, Tomoko; Watanabe, Katsumi

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104113

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…These results are congruent with the hypothesis that alexithymia is associated with impaired interoception: alexithymic individuals—autistic or not—may experience difficulties in perceiving the internal state of their body, disrupting the processing of social cues and leading to socio-emotional deficits, such as reduced empathy and poor emotion recognition [ 105 – 107 ]. Interoception issues could also account for the fact that in our study, high alexithymia scores were linked to reduced attention to direct gaze stimuli: direct eye gaze seems to induce self-awareness [ 108 , 109 ] and to enhance interoceptive accuracy [ 110 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm

2020

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Background With the overarching objective to gain better insights into social attention in autistic adults, the present study addresses three outstanding issues about face processing in autism. First, do autistic adults display a preference for mouths over eyes; second, do they avoid direct gaze; third, is atypical visual exploration of faces in autism mediated by gender, social anxiety or alexithymia? Methods We used a novel reinforced preferential looking paradigm with a group of autistic adults (n = 43, 23 women) pairwise matched on age with neurotypical participants (n = 43, 21 women). Participants watched 28 different pairs of 5 s video recordings of a speaking person: the two videos, simultaneously displayed on the screen, were identical except that gaze was directed at the camera in one video and averted in the other. After a 680 ms transition phase, a short reinforcement animation appeared on the side that had displayed the direct gaze. Results None of the groups showed a preference for mouths over eyes. However, neurotypical participants fixated significantly more the stimuli with direct gaze, while no such preference emerged in autistic participants. As the experiment progressed, neurotypical participants also increasingly anticipated the appearance of the reinforcement, based on the location of the stimulus with the direct gaze, while no such anticipation emerged in autistic participants. Limitations Our autistic participants scored higher on the social anxiety and alexithymia questionnaires than neurotypicals. Future studies should match neurotypical and autistic participants on social anxiety and alexithymia and complement questionnaires with physiological measures of anxiety. Conclusions The absence of preference for direct versus averted gaze in the autistic group is probably due to difficulties in distinguishing eye gaze direction, potentially linked to a reduced spontaneous exploration or avoidance of the eye region. Social attention and preference for direct versus averted gaze correlated with alexithymia and social anxiety scores, but not gender.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm

2020

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“…In particular, unbalanced economic offers reduce the perception of pain (Mancini et al, 2014 ; Nicolardi et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, direct gaze increases interoceptive accuracy (Isomura & Watanabe, 2020 ), while social exclusion decreases it (Durlik & Tsakiris, 2015 ). Thus, the link between interoception and the social self is bi-directional, suggesting a feedback cycle in which inner physiology significatively influences who we think we are when we interact with others, but is also influenced by top-down social cues.…”

Section: Interoceptive Constraints On the Social Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

The inside of me: interoceptive constraints on the concept of self in neuroscience and clinical psychology

Monti

Porciello

Panasiti

et al. 2021

Psychological Research

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Humans are unique in their ability to think about themselves and carry a more or less clear notion of who they are in their mind. Here we review recent evidence suggesting that the birth, maintenance, and loss of the abstract concept of ‘self’ is deeply tied to interoception, the sense of internal physiological signals. Interoception influences multiple facets of the self-concept, cutting across its material, social, moral, and agentive components. Overall, we argue that interoception contributes to the stability of the self-concept over time, unifying its layers and constraining the degree to which it is susceptible to external influences. Hence, the core features of the self-concept are those that correlate more with inner bodily states. We discuss the implications that this may have for theories of embodied cognition as well as for the understanding of psychiatric disorders in which the concept of self appears fragmented or loose. Finally, we formulate some empirical predictions that could be tested in future studies to shed further light on this emerging field.

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“…embodiment interventions) seem to benefit IAcc, as the mean values increased steadily over time in both conditions. This is an important finding regarding the current debate whether and how interoceptive ability can be improved through the regular practice of a particular intervention [91,92]. In this context, Fischer et al [93] found a significant positive effect of a body scan intervention on IAcc after eight weeks of practice.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 90%

Using bodily postures to reduce anxiety and improve interoception: A comparison between powerful and neutral poses

et al. 2020

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Background Previous research has shown that anxiety syndromes are highly prevalent among university students. Effective treatments are needed to reduce the burden of anxiety in this population. Powerful postures have been found to impact affective states, as well as interoception (i.e. the ability to perceive inner bodily signals). However, no previous study has compared the effects of powerful- and neutral postures in regards to anxiety and interoceptive ability. Methods The first part of the study measured the single-session effect of adopting powerful- vs. neutral postures on students' (n = 57) interoceptive ability and state anxiety. The second part of the study measured the effect of adopting powerful or neutral postures twice daily for two weeks, on individuals' interoceptive ability and trait anxiety. Results State anxiety decreased in both conditions whereas interoceptive accuracy only increased in the power posing condition after a single session. Interoceptive accuracy increased in both groups after two weeks of training. Limitations The study included no comparison to a condition where individuals adopted their natural (i.e. usual) bodily posture. Conclusions Embodiment interventions that include elements of adopting an open or expansive bodily posture whilst maintaining a self-focus, can help to reduce state anxiety and improve interoceptive accuracy in student populations. Power posing does not seem to be superior to holding a neutral posture to improve interoceptive accuracy or anxiety. One reason therefore could be that both conditions include the manipulation of self-focus and a postural change that diverges from individuals' normal posture.

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Direct gaze enhances interoceptive accuracy

Cited by 15 publications

References 30 publications

No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm

No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm

The inside of me: interoceptive constraints on the concept of self in neuroscience and clinical psychology

Using bodily postures to reduce anxiety and improve interoception: A comparison between powerful and neutral poses

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