Interaction of Interoceptive Perception and Emotional Intelligence: A Functional Neuroimaging Study

Abstract

Impairments to nociception are currently regarded as the pathogenetic mechanism of psychosomatic disorders and as a potential therapeutic target. An aim of the present work was to investigate the functional cerebral grounds linking the perception of internal sensations and emotional intelligence. The interoceptive paradigm for detection of the heartbeat was modified, adapted to Russian, and used in conditions of functional MRI in middle-aged and elderly people without neurological or mental illness. All subjects carried out the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso emotional intelligence test. The level of emotional intelligence and the accuracy of heart rhythm detection were linked with activation of the right anterior insular cortex. This mediator role of the right anterior insular cortex in the interaction between interoception and emotional processing indicates that it can be regarded as a neural correlate of this interaction in developing approaches to the prophylaxis and treatment of psychosomatic disorders.