Evidence for a large-scale brain system supporting allostasis and interoception in humans

Abstract

Large-scale intrinsic brain systems have been identified for exteroceptive senses (e.g., sight, hearing, touch). We introduce an analogous system for representing sensations from within the body, called interoception, and demonstrate its relation to regulating peripheral systems in the body, called allostasis. Employing the recently introduced Embodied Predictive Interoception Coding (EPIC) model, we used tract-tracing studies of macaque monkeys, followed by two intrinsic functional magnetic resonance imaging samples (N = 280 and N = 270) to evaluate the existence of an intrinsic allostatic/interoceptive system in the human brain. Another sample (N = 41) allowed us to evaluate the convergent validity of the hypothesized allostatic/interoceptive system by showing that individuals with stronger connectivity between system hubs performed better on an implicit index of interoceptive ability related to autonomic fluctuations. Implications include insights for the brain’s functional architecture, dissolving the artificial boundary between mind and body, and unifying mental and physical illness.

Brain connection pattern under interoceptive attention state predict interoceptive intensity and subjective anxiety feeling

“…Interoception refers to the ascending sensory inputs from the organs and systems within the body's internal milieu, which include but are not limited to signals of visceral function and both neuroimmune and neuroendocrine fluctuations (Kleckner et al, 2017). The most recent psychological and neuroscientific studies have shown that the process of interoception is closely associated with emotion, attention, and decision making at both behavioral and brain levels (Barrett, 2017;A.…”

An active inference theory of allostasis and interoception in depression

“…First, there is the signal processing evidence across species that to enhance efficiency, brains send only the minimum data necessary, as efficiently as possible, and using the least possible neural wiring [1]. 3 Second, there is both structural and functional brain imaging evidence in humans that reveals a system which integrates allostasis and interoception at the core of the brain's intrinsic architecture [52,53] (figure 1). This system consists of two intrinsic networks, conventionally called the default mode network and the salience network, connected by an ensemble of the brain's 'rich club' hubs.…”

“…Prediction errors also arise within the amygdala, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum and are forwarded to the cortex to correct its internal model [52,[103][104][105].…”

“…A large-scale system for allostasis in the human brain. We consulted anterograde and retrograde tract-tracing studies in macaque monkeys to select eight seed regions in limbic cortices with monosynaptic connections to midbrain and brainstem regions that are known to control the immune, endocrine and autonomic nervous systems in the service of allostasis (for details and coordinates, see [52] physiological systems). The brain has various mechanisms for reducing prediction errors, and once they are sufficiently minimized, predictions (i.e.…”

“…Limbic cortices, such as the cingulate cortices and the ventral portion of the anterior insula, as well as dysgranular cortical sites that project to subcortical regions controlling allostasis, such as medial prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and parts of temporal and parietal cortex, provide the substrate for allostasis (figure 2a). Descending allostatic prediction signals are relayed to the body's physiological systems via a collection of subcortical regions [52,53], including the central nucleus of the amygdala [92], the ventral and dorsal striatum, and the central pattern generators [93] of the hypothalamus, the parabrachial nucleus, periaqueductal grey and the solitary nucleus (figure 2b). 5 The hippocampus very likely has a predictive role to play in allostasis as well (e.g.…”