@article{HerbertPollatos2008, author = {Herbert, B. and Pollatos, Olga}, title = {Interozeptive Sensitivit{\"a}t, Gef{\"u}hle und Verhaltensregulation}, year = {2008}, abstract = {The processing of afferent bodily signals is not only of great importance for the control of homeostatic and adaptive processes within the body but, in combination with the perceptibility of internal, bodily reactions ("interoceptive sensitivity"), also influences the regulation of complex cognitive, emotional and behavioral processes. This review article outlines the theoretical basis of interoceptive sensititivity and illustrates recent neuroscientific research and results.}, language = {de} } @article{KuehnpastGramannPollatos2012, author = {K{\"u}hnpast, Nicole and Gramann, Klaus and Pollatos, Olga}, title = {Electrophysiologic evidence for multilevel deficits in emotional face processing in patients with Bulimia Nervosa}, series = {Psychosomatic medicine}, volume = {74}, journal = {Psychosomatic medicine}, number = {7}, publisher = {Lippincott Williams \& Wilkins}, address = {Philadelphia}, issn = {0033-3174}, doi = {10.1097/PSY.0b013e31825ca15a}, pages = {736 -- 744}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Background: Empirical evidence suggests substantial deficits regarding emotion recognition in bulimia nervosa (BN). The aim of the current study was to investigate electrophysiologic evidence for deficits in emotional face processing in patients with BN. Methods: Event-related potentials were recorded from 13 women with BN and 13 matched healthy controls while viewing neutral, happy, fearful, and angry facial expressions. Participants' recognition performance for emotional faces was tested in a subsequent categorization task. In addition, the degree of alexithymia, depression, and anxiety were assessed via questionnaires. Results: Categorization of emotional faces was hampered in BN (p = .01). Amplitudes of event-related potentials differed during emotional face processing: face-specific N170 amplitudes were less pronounced for angry faces in patients with BN (mean [M] [standard deviation {SD}] = 1.46 [0.56] mu V versus M [SD] = -1.23 [0.61] mu V, p = .02). In contrast, P3 amplitudes were more pronounced in patients with BN as compared with controls (M [SD] = 2.64 [0.46] mu V versus M [SD] = 1.25 [0.39] mu V, p = .04), independent of emotional expression. Conclusions: The study provides novel electrophysiologic data showing that emotional faces are processed differently in patients with BN as compared with healthy controls. We suggest that deficits in early automatic emotion classification in BN are followed by an increased allocation of attentional resources to compensate for those deficits. These findings might contribute to a better understanding of the impaired social functioning in BN.}, language = {en} } @article{HerbertMuthPollatosetal.2012, author = {Herbert, Beate M. and Muth, Eric R. and Pollatos, Olga and Herbert, Cornelia}, title = {Interoception across modalities on the relationship between cardiac awareness and the sensitivity for gastric functions}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {7}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {5}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0036646}, pages = {9}, year = {2012}, abstract = {The individual sensitivity for ones internal bodily signals ("interoceptive awareness'') has been shown to be of relevance for a broad range of cognitive and affective functions. Interoceptive awareness has been primarily assessed via measuring the sensitivity for ones cardiac signals ("cardiac awareness'') which can be non-invasively measured by heartbeat perception tasks. It is an open question whether cardiac awareness is related to the sensitivity for other bodily, visceral functions. This study investigated the relationship between cardiac awareness and the sensitivity for gastric functions in healthy female persons by using non-invasive methods. Heartbeat perception as a measure for cardiac awareness was assessed by a heartbeat tracking task and gastric sensitivity was assessed by a water load test. Gastric myoelectrical activity was measured by electrogastrography (EGG) and subjective feelings of fullness, valence, arousal and nausea were assessed. The results show that cardiac awareness was inversely correlated with ingested water volume and with normogastric activity after water load. However, persons with good and poor cardiac awareness did not differ in their subjective ratings of fullness, nausea and affective feelings after drinking. This suggests that good heartbeat perceivers ingested less water because they subjectively felt more intense signals of fullness during this lower amount of water intake compared to poor heartbeat perceivers who ingested more water until feeling the same signs of fullness. These findings demonstrate that cardiac awareness is related to greater sensitivity for gastric functions, suggesting that there is a general sensitivity for interoceptive processes across the gastric and cardiac modality.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{PollatosFuestoesCritchley2012, author = {Pollatos, Olga and Fuestoes, J{\"u}rgen and Critchley, Hugo}, title = {On the generalized embodiment of pain how interoceptive sensitivitymodulates cutaneous pain perception}, series = {Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research}, volume = {49}, booktitle = {Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research}, number = {9}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0048-5772}, pages = {S104 -- S104}, year = {2012}, language = {en} } @article{HerbertPollatos2012, author = {Herbert, Beate M. and Pollatos, Olga}, title = {The body in the mind On the relationship between interoception and embodiment}, series = {Topics in cognitive science}, volume = {4}, journal = {Topics in cognitive science}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1756-8757}, doi = {10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01189.x}, pages = {692 -- 704}, year = {2012}, abstract = {The processing, representation, and perception of bodily signals (interoception) plays an important role for human behavior. Theories of embodied cognition hold that higher cognitive processes operate on perceptual symbols and that concept use involves reactivations of the sensory-motor states that occur during experience with the world. Similarly, activation of interoceptive representations and meta-representations of bodily signals supporting interoceptive awareness are profoundly associated with emotional experience and cognitive functions. This article gives an overview over present findings and models on interoception and mechanisms of embodiment and highlights its relevance for disorders that are suggested to represent a translation deficit of bodily states into subjective feelings and self-awareness.}, language = {en} } @article{PollatosFuestoesCritchley2012, author = {Pollatos, Olga and Fuestoes, Juergen and Critchley, Hugo D.}, title = {On the generalised embodiment of pain: how interoceptive sensitivity modulates cutaneous pain perception}, series = {Pain : journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain}, volume = {153}, journal = {Pain : journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain}, number = {8}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0304-3959}, doi = {10.1016/j.pain.2012.04.030}, pages = {1680 -- 1686}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity are associated with differences in reported intensity of emotional experience, vulnerability to anxiety and mood disorder and capacity for emotional self-regulation. Enhanced sensitivity to autonomic state is often accompanied by increased autonomic reactivity. Here we tested the hypothesis that healthy people classified as more interoceptively sensitive, by their performance of a heartbeat monitoring task, will demonstrate enhanced perception of pain. We further explored whether this effect is associated with a greater physiological reactivity to the pain stimuli. Using an algometer, cutaneous pressure pain was applied to the thenar eminence in 60 healthy participants. Heart rate variability and respiratory activity were recorded concurrently. We observed significant relationships between heightened interoceptive sensitivity and both enhanced sensitivity and decreased tolerance to pain. These effects were accompanied by a more pronounced parasympathetic decrease and a change in sympathovagal balance during pain assessment in the high, compared to the low, interoceptively sensitive group. Our study provides novel evidence that interoceptive sensitivity is associated with the experience and tolerability of pain in conjunction with reactive changes in autonomic balance.}, language = {en} } @article{PollatosMoenkemoellerGroppeetal.2023, author = {Pollatos, Olga and M{\"o}nkem{\"o}ller, Karla and Groppe, Karoline and Elsner, Birgit}, title = {Interoceptive accuracy is associated with benefits in decision making in children}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1070037}, pages = {13}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Introduction: Decision making results not only from logical analyses, but seems to be further guided by the ability to perceive somatic information (interoceptive accuracy). Relations between interoceptive accuracy and decision making have been exclusively studied in adults and with regard to complex, uncertain situations (as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task, IGT). Methods: In the present study, 1454 children (6-11 years) were examined at two time points (approximately 1 year apart) using an IGT as well as a delay-of-gratification task for sweets-items and toy-items. Interoceptive accuracy was measured using a child-adapted version of the Heartbeat Perception Task. Results: The present results revealed that children with higher, as compared to lower, interoceptive accuracy showed more advantageous choices in the IGT and delayed more sweets-items, but not toy-items, in a delay-of-gratification task at time point 2 but not at time point 1. However, no longitudinal relation between interoceptive accuracy and decision making 1 year later could be shown. Discussion: Results indicate that interoceptive accuracy relates to decision-making abilities in situations of varying complexity already in middle childhood, and that this link might consolidate across the examined 1-year period. Furthermore, the association of interoceptive accuracy and the delay of sweets-items might have implications for the regulation of body weight at a later age.}, language = {en} } @article{OhlWohltatKliegletal.2016, author = {Ohl, Sven and Wohltat, Christian and Kliegl, Reinhold and Pollatos, Olga and Engbert, Ralf}, title = {Microsaccades Are Coupled to Heartbeat}, series = {The journal of neuroscience}, volume = {36}, journal = {The journal of neuroscience}, publisher = {Society for Neuroscience}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0270-6474}, doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2211-15.2016}, pages = {1237 -- 1241}, year = {2016}, abstract = {During visual fixation, the eye generates microsaccades and slower components of fixational eye movements that are part of the visual processing strategy in humans. Here, we show that ongoing heartbeat is coupled to temporal rate variations in the generation of microsaccades. Using coregistration of eye recording and ECG in humans, we tested the hypothesis that microsaccade onsets are coupled to the relative phase of the R-R intervals in heartbeats. We observed significantly more microsaccades during the early phase after the R peak in the ECG. This form of coupling between heartbeat and eye movements was substantiated by the additional finding of a coupling between heart phase and motion activity in slow fixational eye movements; i.e., retinal image slip caused by physiological drift. Our findings therefore demonstrate a coupling of the oculomotor system and ongoing heartbeat, which provides further evidence for bodily influences on visuomotor functioning.}, language = {en} }