Visceral afferent training in action:  The origins of agency in early cognitive development

Corcoran, Andrew W.; Feuerriegel, Daniel; Robinson, Jonathan; Perrykkad, Kelsey

doi:10.31234/osf.io/nvj45

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 200 publications

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“…Though major transformative experiences such as pregnancy presumably impact processing of information related to the self, from sensory inputs to broader beliefs and worldviews (Villiger, 2022), how aspects of the self-model may change in the event of such experiences is unclear. There is a nascent literature in predictive processing about related issues including foetal (self-)development relying on co-embodiment and co-homeostasis (Ciaunica et al, 2021, Corcoran et al 2023a, Corcoran et al 2023b), but very little if any work focused primarily on maternal self-model transformation through this developmental stage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sense of Self in First-Time Pregnancy

Perrykkad,

O'Neill,

Jamadar

2023

Preprint

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Pregnancy is a time of profound upheaval of the self, when in addition to undergoing dramatic physical changes to accommodate a developing foetus, significant cognitive and social transformations occur in preparation for birth and parenthood. So far, research into cognitive constructions of the self have been either infant-centric or psychopathology-focused, so our understanding of the healthy, changing self in pregnancy remains relatively poor. This online experiment uses online questionnaires and two cognitive tasks to investigate how constructs relating to the mental self-model, including body representation, self-concept clarity, sense of agency, general self-efficacy and self-attribute learning differ between first-time pregnant (n = 100) and never-been pregnant (n = 102) women. Results indicate that first time pregnancy is associated with significantly higher sense of body agency, body visibility, and body estrangement. Poorer accuracy for newly-learned associations was also observed in the pregnant group. Whilst a typical self-processing bias was observed in both groups as expected, an intentional binding effect was absent. Notably, post-hoc exploratory analyses provide initial evidence for trimester effects, with decisively higher self-reported sense of negative agency in the first and third trimesters compared to the never-pregnant group. Further, body agency and self-efficacy were higher in the second trimester group compared to the never-pregnant group, suggesting a period of relative recovery and consolidation of the new self. Taken together, our results suggest that aspects of self-representation and agency undergo significant shifts over the course of pregnancy, and provide multiple exciting avenues for future research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sense of Self in First-Time Pregnancy

Perrykkad,

O'Neill,

Jamadar

2023

Preprint

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Sense of self in first-time pregnancy

Perrykkad,

O’Neill,

Jamadar

2024

npj Womens Health

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Pregnancy is a time of profound upheaval of the self, when in addition to undergoing dramatic physical changes to accommodate a developing foetus, significant cognitive and social transformations occur in preparation for birth and parenthood. So far, research into cognitive constructions of the self has been either infant-centric or psychopathology-focused, so our understanding of the healthy, changing self in pregnancy remains relatively poor. This online experiment uses online questionnaires and two cognitive tasks to investigate how constructs relating to the mental self-model, including body representation, self-concept clarity, sense of agency, general self-efficacy and self-attribute learning, differ between first-time pregnant (n = 100) and never-been pregnant (n = 102) women. Results indicate that first-time pregnancy is associated with a significantly higher sense of body agency, body visibility, and body estrangement. Poorer accuracy for newly learned associations was also observed in the pregnant group. Whilst a typical self-processing bias was observed in both groups as expected, an intentional binding effect was absent. Notably, post-hoc exploratory analyses provide initial evidence for trimester effects, with a decisively higher self-reported sense of negative agency in the first trimester compared to the never-pregnant group and other trimesters. Further, body agency and self-efficacy were higher in the second-trimester group compared to the never-pregnant group, suggesting a period of relative recovery and consolidation of the new self. Taken together, our results suggest that aspects of self-representation and agency undergo significant shifts over the course of pregnancy and provide multiple exciting avenues for future research.

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Body as First Teacher: The Role of Rhythmic Visceral Dynamics in Early Cognitive Development

Corcoran,

Perrykkad,

Feuerriegel

et al. 2023

Perspect Psychol Sci

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Embodied cognition—the idea that mental states and processes should be understood in relation to one’s bodily constitution and interactions with the world—remains a controversial topic within cognitive science. Recently, however, increasing interest in predictive processing theories among proponents and critics of embodiment alike has raised hopes of a reconciliation. This article sets out to appraise the unificatory potential of predictive processing, focusing in particular on embodied formulations of active inference. Our analysis suggests that most active-inference accounts invoke weak, potentially trivial conceptions of embodiment; those making stronger claims do so independently of the theoretical commitments of the active-inference framework. We argue that a more compelling version of embodied active inference can be motivated by adopting a diachronic perspective on the way rhythmic physiological activity shapes neural development in utero. According to this visceral afferent training hypothesis, early-emerging physiological processes are essential not only for supporting the biophysical development of neural structures but also for configuring the cognitive architecture those structures entail. Focusing in particular on the cardiovascular system, we propose three candidate mechanisms through which visceral afferent training might operate: (a) activity-dependent neuronal development, (b) periodic signal modeling, and (c) oscillatory network coordination.

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Visceral afferent training in action: The origins of agency in early cognitive development

Cited by 3 publications

References 200 publications

Sense of Self in First-Time Pregnancy

Sense of Self in First-Time Pregnancy

Sense of self in first-time pregnancy

Body as First Teacher: The Role of Rhythmic Visceral Dynamics in Early Cognitive Development

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