Timing of Modulation of Corticospinal Excitability by Heartbeat Differs with Interoceptive Accuracy

Abstract

Interoceptive inputs are ascending information from the internal body. Cortical activities have been shown to be elicited by interoceptive inputs from the heartbeat at approximately 200–600 ms after the R wave, and sensory processing is modulated by the heartbeat within the time window. However, the influence of interoceptive inputs and their timing on corticospinal excitability has not yet been fully elucidated. Moreover, in previous studies, individual differences in interoceptive accuracy—objective accuracy in detecting internal bodily sensations assessed by heartbeat perception tasks—can be considered as an important factor influencing cortical activities by the heartbeat. We therefore investigated the modulation of corticospinal excitability by the heartbeat and its timing by recording motor-evoked potentials elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation of the primary motor cortex at various timings from the R wave. We also investigated the relationship between this modulation and individual interoceptive accuracy. We found a significant positive correlation between the modulation of corticospinal excitability at 200 ms after the R wave and interoceptive accuracy. Conversely, we found a significant negative correlation between the modulation of corticospinal excitability at 400 ms after the R wave and interoceptive accuracy. These results indicated that the corticospinal excitability was modulated at 200–400 ms after the R wave (systolic phase) and that the timing of excitatory or inhibitory states in the corticospinal pathway differed with interoceptive accuracy. Although the neural mechanism remains unclear, these findings may aid in determining new factors influencing corticospinal excitability.