Alexithymia Is Associated With a Multidomain, Multidimensional Failure of Interoception: Evidence From Novel Tests

Interoception, the perception of the body's internal state, contributes to numerous aspects of higher-order cognition. Several theories suggest a causal role for atypical interoception in specific psychiatric disorders, including a recent claim that atypical interoception represents a transdiag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. General 2018-03, Vol.147 (3), p.398-408
Main Authors: Murphy, Jennifer, Catmur, Caroline, Bird, Geoffrey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Affective Symptoms - physiopathology
Affective Symptoms - psychology
Alexithymia
Anxiety
Anxiety - physiopathology
Anxiety - psychology
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Behavior disorders
Cognition
Cognition - physiology
Cues
Depression - physiopathology
Depression - psychology
Emotional disorders
Emotions - physiology
Female
Human
Humans
Interoception
Interoception - physiology
Male
Mental depression
Self Concept
Self-Perception
Sensory perception
Young Adult
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Summary:Interoception, the perception of the body's internal state, contributes to numerous aspects of higher-order cognition. Several theories suggest a causal role for atypical interoception in specific psychiatric disorders, including a recent claim that atypical interoception represents a transdiagnostic impairment across disorders characterized by reduced perception of one's own emotion (alexithymia). Such theories are supported predominantly by evidence from only one interoceptive domain (cardiac); however, evidence of domain-specific interoceptive ability highlights the need to assess interoception in noncardiac domains. Using novel interoceptive tasks, we demonstrate that individuals high in alexithymic traits show a reduced propensity to utilize interoceptive cues to gauge respiratory output (Experiment 1), reduced accuracy on tasks of muscular effort (Experiment 2), and taste sensitivity (Experiment 3), unrelated to any co-occurring autism, depression, or anxiety. Results suggest that alexithymia reflects a multidomain, multidimensional failure of interoception, which is consistent with theories suggesting that atypical interoception may underpin both symptom commonalities between psychiatric disorders and heterogeneity within disorders.
ISSN:0096-3445
1939-2222
DOI:10.1037/xge0000366