Sex differences in interoceptive accuracy: A meta-analysis

Prentice, Freya; Murphy, Jennifer

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.030

Cited by 33 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 153 publications

(152 reference statements)

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“…In the present study, therefore, we accounted for these issues by setting individual intensities from a baseline maximal intensity fitness test. In addition, participants were balanced on variables previously found to contribute to interoceptive variation (gender 48 and sporting background 22 ), and further, other known relevant baseline characteristics (physical fitness 33 , chronic stress 49 , and baseline interoceptive profiles 41 ) were taken into consideration through differential analyses. In doing so, our findings support and extend previous findings in emphasising that physical activity of a certain intensity does influence IAcc, however, effects appear to be confined to certain populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All participants were students at the University of Bern with half majoring in sport science, and the other half majoring in non-sport focused courses. The sample was gender-balanced to account for proposed differences in IAcc between males and females 48 . The experiment was approved by the ethics committee of the University of Bern (Nr.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Secondly, through directing attention towards the bodily signals when they are more salient, we predicted that physical activity and attentional focus would have interactive effects on IAcc. Finally, considering known inter-individual variations in IAcc, with several factors previously shown to influence IAcc both at baseline and in response to experimental stimuli (sporting background and fitness 22 , 33 , gender 48 , chronic stress 49 , and interoceptive ability 41 ), we explored potential differential effects of sporting background, physical fitness [ O 2peak ], gender, perceived chronic stress, and interoceptive ability (objective and self-reported) on manipulation response.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acute physical-activity related increases in interoceptive ability are not enhanced with simultaneous interoceptive attention

Wallman-Jones

Palser

Benzing

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Interoception, the sense of the internal body, is proposed to support self-regulation, and consequently influence mental health. Researchers have therefore shown interest in improving the ability to accurately monitor internal signals (i.e., interoceptive accuracy, IAcc). Research suggests that cardiac IAcc is modifiable by both manipulations of interoceptive attention (guided attention towards the internal body), and interoceptive exposure (strategically inducing somatic signals e.g., via physical activity). Whilst successful in isolation, it is unclear whether a combined approach (i.e., directing attention towards the internal body when signals are more salient) could elicit greater benefits. In a 2 × 2 within-subject design, 48 healthy adults (Mage = 25.98 ± 4.73 years, 50% female) completed four 20-min conditions varying in both attentional focus (interoceptive vs exteroceptive) and physical activity (active vs rest), with cardiac IAcc measured immediately after. Results revealed a main effect for physical activity (p < 0.001), however, there was no effect for attentional focus (p = 0.397), and no interaction effect (p = 0.797). Differential analyses showed that a higher sporting background increased sensitivity to physical activity-related increases in cardiac IAcc (p = 0.031). Findings indicate that (irrespective of attentional focus) moderate-vigorous physical activity-based interventions have the potential to increase cardiac IAcc, with certain individuals potentially benefiting more.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Acute physical-activity related increases in interoceptive ability are not enhanced with simultaneous interoceptive attention

Wallman-Jones

Palser

Benzing

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Another limitation of this study is the generalizability of the results. Previous studies have reported sex differences in interoception ( Grabauskaitë et al, 2017 ; Murphy et al, 2019 ; Prentice and Murphy, 2022 ). Pretice and Murphy conducted a meta-analysis examining sex differences in interoceptive accuracy and revealed that interoceptive accuracy assessed using cardiac tasks (i.e., heartbeat counting or heartbeat discrimination tasks) was higher in men than in women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Cardiac Cycle Affects the Asymmetric Value Updating in Instrumental Reward Learning

Kimura

Kanayama²,

Toyama³

et al. 2022

Front. Neurosci.

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This study aimed to investigate whether instrumental reward learning is affected by the cardiac cycle. To this end, we examined the effects of the cardiac cycle (systole or diastole) on the computational processes underlying the participants’ choices in the instrumental learning task. In the instrumental learning task, participants were required to select one of two discriminative stimuli (neutral visual stimuli) and immediately receive reward/punishment feedback depending on the probability assigned to the chosen stimuli. To manipulate the cardiac cycle, the presentation of discriminative stimuli was timed to coincide with either cardiac systole or diastole. We fitted the participants’ choices in the task with reinforcement learning (RL) models and estimated parameters involving instrumental learning (i.e., learning rate and inverse temperature) separately in the systole and diastole trials. Model-based analysis revealed that the learning rate for positive prediction errors was higher than that for negative prediction errors in the systole trials; however, learning rates did not differ between positive and negative prediction errors in the diastole trials. These results demonstrate that the natural fluctuation of cardiac afferent signals can affect asymmetric value updating in instrumental reward learning.

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“…Previous research suggests that there might be sex differences in interoceptive abilities. In particular, men seem to pay less attention to bodily signals than women ( Grabauskaitė et al., 2017 ), while slightly outperforming them in cardiac ( Grabauskaitė et al., 2017 ; Harver et al., 1993 ) if not gastric ( Prentice and Murphy, 2022 ) interoception accuracy tasks, and displaying a more stable EGG frequency ( Tolj et al., 2007 ). Hence, recruiting only male participants allowed us to test how gastrointestinal signals are related to bodily self-consciousness in a more homogeneous sample.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%