Abstract
Recent neurocomputational theories have hypothesized that abnormalities in prior beliefs and/or the precision-weighting of afferent interoceptive signals may facilitate the transdiagnostic emergence of psychopathology. Specifically, it has been suggested that, in certain psychiatric disorders, interoceptive processing mechanisms either over-weight prior beliefs or under-weight signals from the viscera (or both), leading to a failure to accurately update beliefs about the body. However, this has not been directly tested empirically. To evaluate the potential roles of prior beliefs and interoceptive precision in this context, we fit a Bayesian computational model to behavior in a transdiagnostic patient sample during an interoceptive awareness (heartbeat tapping) task. Modelling revealed that, during an interoceptive perturbation condition (inspiratory breath-holding during heartbeat tapping), healthy individuals (N = 52) assigned greater precision to ascending cardiac signals than individuals with symptoms of anxiety (N = 15), depression (N = 69), co-morbid depression/anxiety (N = 153), substance use disorders (N = 131), and eating disorders (N = 14)–who failed to increase their precision estimates from resting levels. In contrast, we did not find strong evidence for differences in prior beliefs. These results provide the first empirical computational modeling evidence of a selective dysfunction in adaptive interoceptive processing in psychiatric conditions, and lay the groundwork for future studies examining how reduced interoceptive precision influences visceral regulation and interoceptively-guided decision-making.
Highlights
Interoception plays an important role in a number of psychiatric disorders
Our primary aims were to 1) demonstrate the sensitivity of our novel computational approach in measuring the condition-specific precision-weighting of interoceptive signals and prior beliefs across a transdiagnostic sample of individuals with depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and/or eating disorders, 2) test the hypothesis that these patient groups would show lower interoceptive precision weightings than HCs, more precise prior beliefs than HCs, or both, and 3) establish whether prior beliefs and/ or interoceptive precision is abnormal in general or selectively within resting or interoceptive perturbation conditions
Because the first half of the Tulsa 1000 (T1000) sample was pre-specified as an exploratory sample, we report relationships at p < .05 as a potential basis for a priori hypothesis verification in the second half of the T1000 dataset in subsequent work
Summary
Interoception is the process by which the nervous system senses the internal state of the body. Theoretical models propose that the computational mechanisms of interoceptive dysfunction are caused by overly precise prior beliefs about body states (“hyperprecise priors”) or underestimates of the reliability of the information carried by ascending signals from the body (“low sensory precision”). We found evidence of low sensory precision within individuals with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and/or substance use disorders, relative to healthy individuals. This difference occurred only during a breath-holding condition designed to enhance heartbeat signals. The data from this study support the argument for computational mechanisms of interoceptive dysfunction across several psychiatric disorders, and suggest that these conditions may be characterized by an inability to adjust sensory precision when signals from the body change
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
