TY - JOUR A1 - Albrecht, Jessica A1 - Anzinger, Andrea A1 - Kopietz, Rainer A1 - Schöpf, Veronika A1 - Kleemann, Anna Maria A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Wiesmann, Martin T1 - Test-retest reliability of the olfactory detection threshold test of the Sniffin' Sticks N2 - The aim of the present study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of the olfactory detection threshold subtest of the Sniffin" Sticks test battery, if administered repeatedly on 4 time points. The detection threshold test was repeatedly conducted in 64 healthy subjects. On the first testing session, the threshold test was accomplished 3 times (T(1) = 0 min, T(2) = 35 min, and T(3) = 105 min), representing a short-term testing. A fourth threshold test was conducted on a second testing session (T(4) = 35.1 days after the first testing session), representing a long-term testing. The average scores for olfactory detection threshold for n-butanol did not differ significantly across the 4 points of time. The test-retest reliability (Pearson"s r) between the 4 time points of threshold testing were in a range of 0.43-0.85 (P < 0.01). These results support the notion that the olfactory detection threshold test is a highly reliable method for repeated olfactory testing, even if the test is repeated more than once per day and over a long-term period. It is concluded that the olfactory detection threshold test of the Sniffin" Sticks is suitable for repeated testing during experimental or clinical studies. Y1 - 2008 UR - http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/ SN - 0379-864X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Albrecht, Jessica A1 - Kopietz, Rainer A1 - Linn, Jennifer A1 - Sakar, Vehbi A1 - Anzinger, Andrea A1 - Schreder, Tatjana A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Brückmann, Hartmut-Josef A1 - Kobal, Gerd A1 - Wiesmann, Martin T1 - Activation of olfactory and trigeminal cortical areas following stimulation of the nasal mucosa with low concentrations of S(-)-nicotine vapor : an fMRI study on chemosensory perception N2 - Applied to the nasal mucosa in low concentrations, nicotine vapor evokes odorous sensations (mediated by the olfactory system) whereas at higher concentrations nicotine vapor additionally produces burning and stinging sensations in the nose (mediated by the trigeminal system). The objective of this study was to determine whether intranasal stimulation with suprathreshold concentrations of S(-)-nicotine vapor causes brain activation in olfactory cortical areas or if trigeminal cortical areas are also activated. Individual olfactory detection thresholds for S(-)-nicotine were determined in 19 healthy occasional smokers using a computer-controlled air-dilution olfactometer. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired using a 1.5T MR scanner with applications of nicotine in concentrations at or just above the individual"s olfactory detection threshold. Subjects reliably perceived the stimuli as being odorous. Accordingly, activation of brain areas known to be involved in processing of olfactory stimuli was identified. Although most of the subjects never or only rarely observed a burning or painful sensation in the nose, brain areas associated with the processing of painful stimuli were activated in all subjects. This indicates that the olfactory and trigeminal systems are activated during perception of nicotine and it is not possible to completely separate olfactory from trigeminal effects by lowering the concentration of the applied nicotine. In conclusion, even at low concentrations that do not consistently lead to painful sensations, intranasally applied nicotine activates both the olfactory and the trigeminal system. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/109668555 SN - 1065-9471 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Füstös, Jürgen A1 - Gramann, Klaus A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - On the embodiment of emotion regulation - interoceptive awareness facilitates reappraisal JF - Frontiers in human neuroscience N2 - The ability to cognitively regulate emotional responses to aversive events is essential for mental and physical health. One prerequisite of successful emotion regulation is the awareness of emotional states, which in turn is associated with the awareness of bodily signals [interoceptive awareness (IA)]. This study investigated the neural dynamics of reappraisal of emotional responses in 28 participants who differed with respect to IA. Electroencephalography was used to characterize the time course of emotion regulation. We found that reappraisal was accompanied by reduced arousal and significant modulation of late neural responses. What is more, higher IA facilitated downregulation of affect and was associated with more pronounced modulation of underlying neural activity. Therefore, we conclude that IA not only advances the consolidation of somatic markers required for guiding individual behaviour but also creates processing advantages in tasks referring to these bodily markers. KW - interoception KW - interoceptive awareness KW - embodied cognition KW - emotion regulation KW - reappraisal KW - evoked potentials Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss089 SN - 1749-5016 SN - 1749-5024 VL - 8 IS - 8 SP - 911 EP - 917 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gottwald, Janna M. A1 - Elsner, Birgit A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Good is up-spatial metaphors in action observation T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Positive objects or actions are associated with physical highness, whereas negative objects or actions are related to physical lowness. Previous research suggests that metaphorical connection ("good is up" or "bad is down") between spatial experience and evaluation of objects is grounded in actual experience with the body. Prior studies investigated effects of spatial metaphors with respect to verticality of either static objects or self-performed actions. By presenting videos of object placements, the current three experiments combined vertically-located stimuli with observation of vertically-directed actions. As expected, participants' ratings of emotionally-neutral objects were systematically influenced by the observed vertical positioning, that is, ratings were more positive for objects that were observed being placed up as compared to down. Moreover, effects were slightly more pronounced for "bad is down," because only the observed downward, but not the upward, action led to different ratings as compared to a medium-positioned action. Last, some ratings were even affected by observing only the upward/downward action, without seeing the final vertical placement of the object. Thus, both, a combination of observing a vertically-directed action and seeing a vertically-located object, and observing a vertically-directed action alone, affected participants' evaluation of emotional valence of the involved object. The present findings expand the relevance of spatial metaphors to action observation, thereby giving new impetus to embodied-cognition research. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 422 KW - embodied cognition KW - spatial metaphors KW - emotional valence KW - action observation KW - action perception Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-406281 IS - 422 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gottwald, Janna M. A1 - Elsner, Birgit A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Good is up-spatial metaphors in action observation JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Positive objects or actions are associated with physical highness, whereas negative objects or actions are related to physical lowness. Previous research suggests that metaphorical connection ("good is up" or "bad is down") between spatial experience and evaluation of objects is grounded in actual experience with the body. Prior studies investigated effects of spatial metaphors with respect to verticality of either static objects or self-performed actions. By presenting videos of object placements, the current three experiments combined vertically-located stimuli with observation of vertically-directed actions. As expected, participants' ratings of emotionally-neutral objects were systematically influenced by the observed vertical positioning, that is, ratings were more positive for objects that were observed being placed up as compared to down. Moreover, effects were slightly more pronounced for "bad is down," because only the observed downward, but not the upward, action led to different ratings as compared to a medium-positioned action. Last, some ratings were even affected by observing only the upward/downward action, without seeing the final vertical placement of the object. Thus, both, a combination of observing a vertically-directed action and seeing a vertically-located object, and observing a vertically-directed action alone, affected participants' evaluation of emotional valence of the involved object. The present findings expand the relevance of spatial metaphors to action observation, thereby giving new impetus to embodied-cognition research. KW - embodied cognition KW - spatial metaphors KW - emotional valence KW - action observation KW - action perception Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01605 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herbert, B. A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Interozeptive Sensitivität, Gefühle und Verhaltensregulation N2 - 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. Y1 - 2008 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Herbert, Cornelia A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - On the relationship between interoceptive awareness and alexithymia - is interoceptive awareness related to emotional awareness? JF - Journal of personality N2 - Interoceptive awareness (IA) is associated with emotional experience, the processing of emotional stimuli, and activation of brain structures that monitor the internal visceral and emotional state of the organism. Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing one's emotions and externally oriented thinking (EOT) and reflects impairments in emotional awareness and the regulation of emotions. This study examined the relationship between alexithymia and IA in a healthy population of N = 155 persons. A well-validated heartbeat perception task to measure interoceptive awareness, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and a depression questionnaire (BDI-2) were administered to 88 women and 67 men. IA was inversely associated with all features of alexithymia in the whole sample. When considering sex differences, IA turned out to be a relevant negative predictor for the EOT subscale only in men. This large sample investigation in a nonclinical population indicates that IA represents a relevant negative predictor for alexithymia. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00717.x SN - 0022-3506 VL - 79 IS - 5 SP - 1149 EP - 1175 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Herbert, Cornelia A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Weimer, Katja A1 - Enck, Paul A1 - Sauer, Helene A1 - Zipfel, Stephan T1 - Effects of short-term food deprivation on interoceptive awareness, feelings and autonomic cardiac activity JF - Biological psychology N2 - The perception of internal bodily signals (interoception) plays a relevant role for emotion processing and feelings. This study investigated changes of interoceptive awareness and cardiac autonomic activity induced by short-term food deprivation and its relationship to hunger and affective experience. 20 healthy women were exposed to 24 h of food deprivation in a controlled setting. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by using a heartbeat tracking task. Felt hunger, cardiac autonomic activity, mood and subjective appraisal of interoceptive sensations were assessed before and after fasting. Results show that short-term fasting intensifies interoceptive awareness, not restricted to food cues, via changes of autonomic cardiac and/or cardiodynamic activity. The increase of interoceptive awareness was positively related to felt hunger. Additionally, the results demonstrate the role of cardiac vagal activity as a potential index of emotion related self-regulation, for hunger, mood and the affective appraisal of interoceptive signals during acute fasting. KW - Interoceptive awareness KW - Hunger KW - Autonomic activity KW - Food deprivation KW - Self-regulation KW - Eating disorders Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.09.004 SN - 0301-0511 VL - 89 IS - 1 SP - 71 EP - 79 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Herbert, Cornelia A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Weimer, Katja A1 - Sauer, Helene A1 - Enck, Paul A1 - Zipfel, Stephan T1 - Effects of short-term food deprivation on interoceptive awareness, feelings and autonomic cardiac activity : implications for eating disorders N2 - Poster session abstracts. Poster 9 Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issn?DESCRIPTOR=PRINTISSN&VALUE=0048-5772 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01111.x SN - 0048-5772 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Muth, Eric R. A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Herbert, Cornelia T1 - Interoception across modalities on the relationship between cardiac awareness and the sensitivity for gastric functions JF - PLoS one N2 - 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. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036646 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 7 IS - 5 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - The body in the mind On the relationship between interoception and embodiment JF - Topics in cognitive science N2 - 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. KW - Interoception KW - Interoceptive awareness KW - Emotions KW - Time perception KW - Disturbances of embodiment KW - Alexithymia KW - Eating disorder KW - Self Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01189.x SN - 1756-8757 VL - 4 IS - 4 SP - 692 EP - 704 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kleemann, Anna Maria A1 - Kopietz, Rainer A1 - Albrecht, Jessica A1 - Schöpf, Veronika A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - May, Jana A1 - Linn, Jennifer A1 - Brückmann, Hartmut-Josef A1 - Wiesmann, Martin T1 - Investigation of breathing parameters during odor perception and olfactory imagery N2 - Compared with visual and auditory imagery, little is known about olfactory imagery. There is evidence that respiration may be altered by both olfactory perception and olfactory imagery. In order to investigate this relationship, breathing parameters (respiratory minute volume, respiratory amplitude, and breathing rate) in human subjects during olfactory perception and olfactory imagery were investigated. Fifty-six subjects having normal olfactory function were tested. Nasal respiration was measured using a respiratory pressure sensor. Using an experimental block design, we alternately presented odors or asked the subjects to imagine a given smell. Four different pleasant odors were used: banana, rose, coffee, and lemon odor. We detected a significant increase in respiratory minute volume between olfactory perception and the baseline condition as well as between olfactory imagery and baseline condition. Additionally we found significant differences in the respiratory amplitude between imagery and baseline condition and between odor and imagery condition. Differences in the breathing rate between olfactory perception, olfactory imagery, and baseline were not statistically significant. We conclude from our results that olfactory perception and olfactory imagery both have effects on the human respiratory profile and that these effects are based on a common underlying mechanism. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/ SN - 0379-864X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koch, Anne A1 - Matthias, Ellen A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Increased Attentional Bias towards Food Pictures in Overweight and Obese Children JF - Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior N2 - Objective: Childhood overweight is related to higher sensitivity for external food cues and less responsiveness towards internal satiety signals. Thus, cognitive psychological models assume an enhanced food attention bias underlying overeating behavior. Nevertheless, this question has only been sparsely investigated so far in younger children and it remains open whether restrained eating behavior plays a correlative role. Methods: The present study investigated this specific information processing bias for food relevant stimuli in 34 overweight children between 6 and 10 years and 34 normal weight children matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Children completed a computerized Food Picture Interference task that assessed reaction time interference effects towards high and low calorie food pictures. Level of hunger and restrained eating were assessed via self-report. Results: Results indicated that while finding no group difference in general processing speed or hunger level before the task, overweight children showed a higher attentional bias to food pictures than normal weight children. No effect of caloric density was found. However, surprisingly, the interference effect was negatively related to restrained eating in the overweight group only. Conclusion: The found hypersensitivity for food cues independent of calorie content in overweight children appears to be related to dysfunctional eating, so that future research should consider strategies for attentional retraining. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4172/2375-4494.1000130 SN - 2375-4494 VL - 2 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koch, Anne A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Cardiac sensitivity in children: Sex differences and its relationship to parameters of emotional processing JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research N2 - In adults, the level of ability to perceive one's own body signals plays an important role for many concepts of emotional experience as demonstrated for emotion processing or emotion regulation. Representative data on perception of body signals and its emotional correlates in children is lacking. Therefore, the present study investigated the cardiac sensitivity of 1,350 children between 6 and 11 years of age in a heartbeat perception task. Our main findings demonstrated the distribution of cardiac sensitivity in children as well as associations with interpersonal emotional intelligence and adaptability. Furthermore, independent of body mass index, boys showed a significantly higher cardiac sensitivity than girls. We conclude that cardiac sensitivity in children appears to show weaker but similar characteristics and relations to emotional parameters as found in adults, so that a dynamic developmental process can be assumed. KW - Children KW - Emotional intelligence KW - Heartbeat perception KW - Heart rate variability KW - Interoceptive sensitivity Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12233 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 VL - 51 IS - 9 SP - 932 EP - 941 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koch, Anne A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Interoceptive sensitivty, body weight and eating behavior in children: a prospective study JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - body weight KW - children KW - eating behavior KW - heartbeat perception KW - interoceptive sensitivity KW - overweight Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01003 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koch, Anne A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Reduced facial emotion recognition in overweight and obese children JF - Journal of psychosomatic research N2 - Objective: Emotional problems often co-occur in overweight or obese children. However, questions of whether emotion recognition deficits are present and how they are reflected have only been sparsely investigated to date. Methods: Therefore, the present study included 33 overweight and obese as well as 33 normal weight elementary school children between six and ten years that were matched for sex, age and socioeconomic status. Participants were shown different emotional faces of a well-validated set of stimuli on a computer screen, which they categorized and then rated on an emotional intensity level. Key measures were categorization performance along with reaction times and emotional intelligence as well as emotional eating questionnaire ratings. Results: Overweight children exhibited lower categorization accuracy as well as longer reaction times as compared to normal weight children, while no differences in intensity ratings occurred. Reaction time to neutral facial expressions was negatively related to intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional intelligence and emotional eating correlated negatively with accuracy for recognizing sad expressions. Conclusion: Facial emotion decoding difficulties seem to be of importance in overweight and obese children and deserve further consideration in terms of their exact impact on social functioning as well as on the maintenance of elevated body weight during child development. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved. KW - Childhood obesity KW - Emotion KW - Emotional expressions KW - Face categorization KW - Overweight Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.06.005 SN - 0022-3999 SN - 1879-1360 VL - 79 IS - 6 SP - 635 EP - 639 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kühnpast, Nicole A1 - Gramann, Klaus A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Electrophysiologic evidence for multilevel deficits in emotional face processing in patients with Bulimia Nervosa JF - Psychosomatic medicine N2 - 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. KW - eating disorders KW - bulimia nervosa KW - EEG KW - emotions KW - face recognition KW - N170 KW - N2 KW - P3 Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31825ca15a SN - 0033-3174 VL - 74 IS - 7 SP - 736 EP - 744 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mai, Sandra A1 - Gramann, Klaus A1 - Herbert, Beate M. A1 - Friederich, Hans-Christoph A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - Electrophysiological evidence for an attentional bias in processing body stimuli in bulimia nervosa JF - Biological psychology N2 - Empirical evidence suggests abnormalities in the processing of body stimuli in bulimia nervosa (BN). This study investigated central markers of processing body stimuli by means of event-related potentials in BN. EEG was recorded from 20 women with BN and 20 matched healthy controls while watching and evaluating underweight, normal and overweight female body pictures. Bulimics evaluated underweight bodies as less unpleasant and overweight bodies as bigger and more arousing. A higher P2 to overweight stimuli occurred in BN only. In contrast to controls, no N2 increase to underweight bodies was observed in BN. P3 was modulated by stimulus category only in healthy controls; late slow waves to underweight bodies were more pronounced in both groups. P2 amplitudes to overweight stimuli were correlated with drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction. We present novel support for altered perceptual and cognitive-affective processing of body images in BN on the subjective and electrophysiological level. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Bulimia nervosa KW - Body image KW - Body stimuli KW - ERP KW - P2 KW - Slow positive wave Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.03.013 SN - 0301-0511 SN - 1873-6246 VL - 108 SP - 105 EP - 114 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matthias, Ellen A1 - Schandry, R. A1 - Duschek, S. A1 - Pollatos, Olga T1 - On the relationship between interoceptive awareness and the attentional processing of visual stimuli N2 - Mental processes related to visceral activity have gained growing interest during the last few years. The following study is the first to investigate possible interactions between interoceptive awareness and measures of attentional performance. We tested the hypothesis whether interoceptive awareness is positively related to indices of selective and divided attentional performances. Using a heartbeat perception task, 29 healthy female participants were separated into two groups scoring either high or low in an interoceptive awareness task. Attentional performance was assessed by several tests including the 'd2 test of attention' and subtests from the 'TAP: Test Battery for Attentional Performance'. We observed a significantly better performance in selective and divided attention for participants with high interoceptive awareness. Our data suggests that interoceptive awareness is related to a better performance especially in tasks assessing selective and divided attention. We conclude 1) that perception of bodily states might be a crucial determinant for the processing of external, visual stimuli, 2) that the ability to perceive internal signals might be an indicator of self-focused attention, and 3) that bodily signals may use, at least in part, similar processing resources as signals from the attention system. Y1 - 2009 SN - 0167-8760 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Nowozin, Claudia A1 - Wahnschaffe, A. A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Kunz, D. T1 - Does bright light interfere with fear learning? T2 - Journal of sleep research : official journal of the European Sleep Research Society Y1 - 2014 SN - 0962-1105 SN - 1365-2869 VL - 23 SP - 102 EP - 102 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -