Evidence toward the potential absence of relationship between temporal and spatial heartbeats perception

Abstract

Many interoceptive tasks (i.e. measuring the sensitivity to bodily signals) are based upon heartbeats perception. However, the temporal perception of heartbeats—when heartbeats are felt—varies among individuals. Moreover, the spatial perception of heartbeats—where on the body heartbeats are felt—has not been characterized in relation to temporal. This study used a multi-interval heartbeat discrimination task in which participants judged the timing of their own heartbeats in relation to external tones. The perception of heartbeats in both time and spatial domains, and relationship between these domains was investigated. Heartbeat perception occurred on average ~ 250 ms after the ECG R-wave, most frequently sampled from the left part of the chest. Participants’ confidence in discriminating the timing of heartbeats from external tones was maximal at 0 ms (tone played at R-wave). Higher confidence was related to reduced dispersion of sampling locations, but Bayesian statistics indicated the absence of relationship between temporal and spatial heartbeats perception. Finally, the spatial precision of heartbeat perception was related to state-anxiety scores, yet largely independent of cardiovascular parameters. This investigation of heartbeat perception provides fresh insights concerning interoceptive signals that contribute to emotion, cognition and behaviour.