Learn from your heart: dissociable neural markers for objective interoceptive performance and metacognitive awareness in auditory feedback

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Learn from your heart: dissociable neural markers for objective interoceptive performance and metacognitive awareness in auditory feedback Tristan A. Bekinschtein1*, Andrés Canales-Johnson1, Carolina Silva2, David Huepe2, Alvaro Rivera-Rei2, Valdas Noreika1, Maria Del Carmen Garcia3, Walter Silva4, Lucas Sedeño4, Lucila Kargieman4, Fabricio Baglivo4, Srivas Chennu5, Agustin Ibanez2, 4 and Eugenio F. Rodriguez6 1 University of Cambridge, Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, United Kingdom 2 Diego Portales University, Chile 3 Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina 4 Favaloro University, Argentina 5 University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, United Kingdom 6 Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile Background: Internal bodily processes, such as blood pressure, continuously feed-forward the brain with information required for homeostatic balance While most of the body-brain communications take place unconsciously, some may become available for conscious access, guiding our motivational behaviour and decision-making. Interoception – or visceral perception – may cover such diverse processes, as perception of pain, temperature, hunger, as well as heartbeat cardiovascular awareness. Cardiac interoception can be enhanced by training using auditory feedback (Schandry & Weitkunat, 1990); however, little is known about the neural mechanisms of cardiac interoceptive learning. Here we show distinct neural markers of objective interoceptive performance and its metacognitive awareness when tapping to your own heartbeat. Method: EEG sensor and source spaces were used for the analysis of the Heart Evoked Potential (HEP) of 33 normal participants (and one epileptic patient) looking at the differences in EEG signal of the participants trying to tap to their heartbeats before and after auditory feedback. Results: EEG amplitude of the heartbeat evoked potential in interoceptive learners was higher compared to non-learners, showing that cardiovascular learning can modulate cortical signature of cardiac activity. Regarding metacognition of learning, participants showing agreement between objective interoceptive performance and metacognitive awareness revealed and increase in gamma phase synchrony (30-45 Hz) after listening to the auditory feedback of their heartbeat, demonstrating for the first time that the emergence of large-scale phase synchronization is associated with conscious access of interoceptive information. Discussion: Together, these findings suggest that interoceptive learning may be mediated by the localized cortical response to the heartbeat, whereas metacognitive awareness of learning seems associated to widespread cortical synchronization patterns. Keywords: Electroencephalography (EEG), Homeostasis, Heart Rate, interoception, gamma synchrony Conference: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Attention Citation: Bekinschtein TA, Canales-Johnson A, Silva C, Huepe D, Rivera-Rei A, Noreika V, Del Carmen Garcia M, Silva W, Sedeño L, Kargieman L, Baglivo F, Chennu S, Ibanez A and Rodriguez EF (2013). Learn from your heart: dissociable neural markers for objective interoceptive performance and metacognitive awareness in auditory feedback. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00147 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 06 Oct 2013; Published Online: 25 Nov 2013. * Correspondence: Dr. Tristan A Bekinschtein, University of Cambridge, Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom, tristan.bekinschtein@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Tristan A Bekinschtein Andrés Canales-Johnson Carolina Silva David Huepe Alvaro Rivera-Rei Valdas Noreika Maria Del Carmen Garcia Walter Silva Lucas Sedeño Lucila Kargieman Fabricio Baglivo Srivas Chennu Agustin Ibanez Eugenio F Rodriguez Google Tristan A Bekinschtein Andrés Canales-Johnson Carolina Silva David Huepe Alvaro Rivera-Rei Valdas Noreika Maria Del Carmen Garcia Walter Silva Lucas Sedeño Lucila Kargieman Fabricio Baglivo Srivas Chennu Agustin Ibanez Eugenio F Rodriguez Google Scholar Tristan A Bekinschtein Andrés Canales-Johnson Carolina Silva David Huepe Alvaro Rivera-Rei Valdas Noreika Maria Del Carmen Garcia Walter Silva Lucas Sedeño Lucila Kargieman Fabricio Baglivo Srivas Chennu Agustin Ibanez Eugenio F Rodriguez PubMed Tristan A Bekinschtein Andrés Canales-Johnson Carolina Silva David Huepe Alvaro Rivera-Rei Valdas Noreika Maria Del Carmen Garcia Walter Silva Lucas Sedeño Lucila Kargieman Fabricio Baglivo Srivas Chennu Agustin Ibanez Eugenio F Rodriguez Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. 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