Glossary
Interoception
What is interoception?
Interoception refers to sensing and processing the body’s internal physiological condition, including signals related to breathing, heartbeat, temperature and visceral states.
How it works
Craig’s influential account describes pathways representing the body’s physiological condition and proposes that these pathways contribute to feelings and self-awareness. Detecting a bodily change accurately, believing you are sensitive to it, and interpreting what it means are different questions. A heartbeat task cannot answer all of them.
Applied example
Someone may notice a faster heartbeat during a negotiation. The sensation is real to the person, but its meaning still needs interpretation. A faster heartbeat does not by itself identify anxiety or tell the person which offer to accept.
Why it matters
Interoception provides a framework for studying how bodily signals relate to subjective experience. Different tasks and bodily systems need careful measurement.
Craig (2002) presents an anatomical and theoretical account of how bodily signals contribute to feelings.