Body Sensations: The Conscious Aspects of Interoception

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. Foreword Preface Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The Importance of Body Sensations 1.2 A Brief History of the Scientific Research on Interoception 1.3 Predictive Processing 1.4 The Tenets of the Monograph 1.5 Structure of the Book References Chapter 2: How Did It Start? An Evolutionary Approach to Body Sensations 2.1 The End of the Paradise and Its Consequences 2.2 The Roots of Subjectivity 2.3 Higher Consciousness 2.4 Summary References Chapter 3: From the Body to the Brain: The Biological Background 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Homeostatic Afferent (Interoceptive) Pathway 3.3 Somatosensory Pathways 3.4 Integration 3.5 Affective-Evaluative Aspects 3.6 The Origins of the Self 3.7 A Final Word on Body Sensations 3.8 Summary References Chapter 4: What Can We Sense? Interoceptive Accuracy 4.1 General Considerations 4.2 Early Conditioning Studies 4.3 Visceral Modalities 1: Heartbeat 4.4 Visceral Modalities 2: Blood Pressure 4.5 Visceral Modalities 3: Respiratory Modalities 4.6 Visceral Modalities 4: Gastric Modalities 4.7 Visceral Modalities 5: Intestinal Modalities 4.8 Visceral Modalities 6: Urinary System 4.9 Visceral Modalities 7: Sexual Excitement 4.10 Visceral Modalities 8: Other Modalities 4.11 Further Homeostatic Modalities 1: Thermosensation 4.12 Further Homeostatic Modalities 2: Itch 4.13 Further Homeostatic Modalities 3: Pain 4.14 Further Homeostatic Modalities 4: Affective or Limbic Touch 4.15 Further Homeostatic Modalities 5: Muscle Fatigue and Perceived Exertion 4.16 Further Homeostatic Modalities 6: Smell and Taste 4.17 Somatosensory Modalities 1: Muscle Tension and Exertion 4.18 Somatosensory Modalities 2: Joint Position and Movement 4.19 Somatosensory Modalities 3: Vestibular Information 4.20 Somatosensory Modalities 4: Tactile Information 4.21 The Question of Generalizability 4.22 The Pathological Aspects of Interoceptive Accuracy 4.23 Summary References Chapter 5: What Do We Perceive? Interoceptive Sensibility 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Historical Roots 5.3 Symptom Reports 5.4 Self-Focused Attention and Body Awareness 5.5 Issues with Attention 1: Measurement 5.6 The Tingling Sensation 5.7 Issues with Attention 2: Primary vs. Secondary Level 5.8 Issues with Attention 3: Aspects of Attention 5.9 Bottom-Up Interoceptive Attention: Early Ideas 5.10 Bottom-Up Interoceptive Attention: Reaction Time Tests 5.11 Top-Down Interoceptive Attention: Monitoring Tendency 5.12 The Predictive Processing Approach to Attention 5.13 Acute and Generalized Interoceptive Sensibility 5.14 The Evaluative Aspects 5.15 Summary References Chapter 6: Can We Trust Our Body Feelings? The Discrepancy Between Actual and Perceived Events 6.1 Dissociable and Non-dissociable Modalities 6.2 Early Studies on Dissociation 6.3 The Perceptual Accuracy Hypothesis 6.4 Models of Hypochondriasis 6.5 Anxiety and Stress: From Repression to Cardiovascular Reactivity 6.6 False Heart Rate Feedback Studies and Once Again on the Schandry Task 6.7 Interoceptive Awareness 6.8 Philosophical Speculations 6.9 On the Background of the Dissociation 6.10 What About Non-dissociable Modalities? 6.11 Summary References Chapter 7: Putting Everything Together: Integrated Models and Pathological Aspects of Symptom Perception 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Bottom-Up Approach 1: Naïve Realism 7.3 The Bottom-Up Approach 2: Linear (Unidirectional) Models of Symptom Perception 7.4 Negative Affect 7.5 The Top-Down Approach 1: Nonlinear Models 7.6 The Top-Down Approach 2: Expectations 7.7 The Top-Down Approach 3: Predictive Processing 7.8 The Pathological Aspect: Dissociation, Conversion, Somatization 7.9 An Example: Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity 7.10 Summary References Chapter 8: Body Sensations and Emotions 8.1 Introduction 8.2 The Background of Emotional Experience 8.3 Possible Consequences of the Actual-Perceived Discrepancy 8.4 Heartbeat Perception and the Emotional Experience 8.5 Somatic Markers and Decision-Making 8.6 Empathy and Altruism 8.7 Alexithymia 8.8 Autism 8.9 Anxiety, Depression, and Other Psychopathologies 8.10 Nonconscious Emotions 8.11 The Predictive Processing Approach 8.12 Summary References Chapter 9: The Dark Side of Body Sensations 9.1 Introduction 9.2 The Nocebo Phenomenon 9.3 Nocebo Mechanisms 9.4 Consequences: Suffering and Nonadherence 9.5 Nocebo Responses Cannot Be Eliminated Just Reduced 9.6 Issues Due to the Lack of Body Sensations 9.7 The Ignorance of Body Sensations 9.8 Summary References Chapter 10: The Bright Side of Body Sensations 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Placebo Response 10.3 Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) 10.4 Mind–Body Techniques 10.5 Summary References Chapter 11: Epilog References Index