Interoceptive accuracy scores from the heartbeat counting task are problematic: Evidence from simple bivariate correlations

2018 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 12-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgia Zamariola ◽  
Pierre Maurage ◽  
Olivier Luminet ◽  
Olivier Corneille
Keyword(s):  
Counting Task ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy

scholarly journals Do interoception and attending to the upper limbs affect body ownership and body representation in the grasp illusion?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259988
Author(s):  
Annie A. Butler ◽  
Lucy S. Robertson ◽  
Audrey P. Wang ◽  
Simon C. Gandevia ◽  
Martin E. Héroux
Keyword(s):  
Index Finger ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
Left Index Finger ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Upper Limbs ◽  
Verbal Cues ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Tactile Cues ◽  
Perceived Ownership ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy

Passively grasping an unseen artificial finger induces ownership over this finger and an illusory coming together of one’s index fingers: a grasp illusion. Here we determine how interoceptive ability and attending to the upper limbs influence this illusion. Participants passively grasped an unseen artificial finger with their left index finger and thumb for 3 min while their right index finger, located 12 cm below, was lightly clamped. Experiment 1 (n = 30) investigated whether the strength of the grasp illusion (perceived index finger spacing and perceived ownership) is related to a person’s level of interoceptive accuracy (modified heartbeat counting task) and sensibility (Noticing subscale of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness). Experiment 2 (n = 30) investigated the effect of providing verbal or tactile cues to guide participants’ attention to their upper limbs. On their own, neither interoceptive accuracy and sensibility or verbal and tactile cueing had an effect on the grasp illusion. However, verbal cueing increased the strength of the grasp illusion in individuals with lower interoceptive ability. Across the observed range of interoceptive accuracy and sensibility, verbal cueing decreased perceived index spacing by 5.6 cm [1.91 to 9.38] (mean [95%CI]), and perceived ownership by ∼3 points on a 7-point Likert scale (slope -0.93 [-1.72 to -0.15]). Thus, attending to the upper limbs via verbal cues increases the strength of the grasp illusion in a way that is inversely proportional to a person’s level of interoceptive accuracy and sensibility.

scholarly journals Aberrant interoceptive accuracy in patients with schizophrenia performing a heartbeat counting task

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiro Koreki ◽  
Michitaka Funayama ◽  
Yuri Terasawa ◽  
Mitsumoto Onaya ◽  
Masaru Mimura
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Time Estimation ◽  
Emotional Disturbances ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy ◽  
Time Accuracy ◽  
Time Estimation Task ◽  
Anxiety Depression

Abstract Introduction Although self-disturbances and emotional disturbances are common in schizophrenia, there is no integrated understanding to explain these symptoms. Interoception has a crucial role in the development of self and emotion, and interoceptive abnormality could lead to such symptoms. Methods We compared interoceptive accuracy between controls and patients with schizophrenia. Forty-two patients and thirty healthy controls were recruited and their interoceptive accuracy was assessed using a heartbeat counting task. Participants were instructed to count the number of times they felt their own heartbeat during various measurement periods. Interoceptive accuracy was calculated based on the discrepancy between the number of reported and actual heartbeats during the measurement period. Participants also performed a time estimation task and were instructed to count the number of seconds there were during the same period. Time accuracy was calculated in a similar manner to that for the heartbeat. Participants also completed a questionnaire regarding interoception to assess their subjective experiences. Results Interoceptive accuracy was significantly lower among patients with schizophrenia than in healthy controls (p = 0.017), even after controlling for age, sex, time accuracy, anxiety, depression, and heart rate (HR). In addition, patients’ positive and negative symptoms were significantly associated with their HR-adjusted interoceptive accuracy, especially hallucination. The discrepancy between HR-adjusted interoceptive accuracy and the score of the questionnaire was significantly associated with positive symptoms, especially delusion; but not negative symptoms. Discussion These findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia have aberrant interoception. Aberrant interoception in schizophrenia could be a novel therapeutic target in future.

scholarly journals Comment on “Zamariola et al., (2018), Interoceptive Accuracy Scores are Problematic: Evidence from Simple Bivariate Correlations” - The Empirical Data Base, the Conceptual Reasoning and the Analysis behind this Statement are Misconceived and do not Support the Authors’ Conclusions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manos Tsakiris ◽  
Vivien Ainley ◽  
Olga Pollatos ◽  
André SCHULZ ◽  
Beate M. Herbert
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Data Base ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Order Effect ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Conceptual Reasoning ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy ◽  
Widespread Interest

A recent paper by Zamariola and colleagues is widely cited as an authority on the invalidity of the Heartbeat Counting Task as a measure of interoceptive accuracy. Given the widespread interest in this field, it is essential that papers about methods are conceptually and empirically sound. However, only one of the authors’ four criticisms appears to be substantiated, i.e. that people count too few heartbeats. Their main arguments about “simple bivariate correlations”, as well as their finding that interoceptive accuracy and heart rate correlate, depend on wholly ‘spurious correlations’ arising from the apparently overlooked point that interoceptive accuracy is a ratio. Moreover, scrutiny of the authors’ data suggests that their fourth criticism (that interoceptive accuracy is lower on longer trials) is an order effect. We present data from our own labs to refute it. We draw the authors’ and editors’ attention to these issues and trust that they will reconsider these erroneous conclusions.

scholarly journals What If the Heartbeat Counting Task Required No Measure of Cardiac Activity?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Desmedt ◽  
Olivier Luminet ◽  
Pierre Maurage ◽  
Olivier Corneille
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Cardiac Activity ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Cardiac Signals ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy

Heartbeat Counting Task (HCT) scores are thought to indicate people’s objective ability to detect their cardiac signals (i.e., their cardiac interoceptive accuracy). In a re-analysis of a large sample of HCT scores, we found that these scores show a .80 correlation with the total number of reported heartbeats when using the original instructions allowing participants to estimate their heart rate, and a .97 correlation when using the (more valid) modified instructions that reduce the influence of estimation strategies. This extremely high correlation suggests that an objective measure of cardiac activity is hardly needed to establish HCT scores, at least when the measure is – as usually the case - collected at rest. This finding raises further important questions on the validity of the HCT as a measure of cardiac interoceptive accuracy, even when using the more valid modified instructions.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on the Association Between Heartbeat Counting Task Performance and Mental Disorders and Their Risk Factors Among Adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Desmedt ◽  
Maaike Van Den Houte ◽  
Marta Walentynowicz ◽  
Sarah Dekeyser ◽  
Olivier Luminet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy

Interoceptive accuracy is thought to play a key role in mental health. However, the validity of its most frequently used measure (i.e., the Heartbeat Counting Task; HCT) has been questioned. This calls for a meta-analytic examination of associations between HCT performance and mental health. To this end, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on associations between HCT performance and mental disorders, symptoms, and their risk factors among adult participants. The final data set comprised 133 studies with 11 524 participants. The quality assessment indicates that research practice should be improved as, e.g., only a few studies reported sample size justification (6%), pre-registration (0.8%), and data in free access (6.8%). HCT performance was not significantly associated with trait measures of anxiety (r = 0.03), depression (r = -0.04), and alexithymia (r = -0.01). It was weakly and negatively associated with age (r = -0.11) after correction for publication bias, sex (male > female; r = -0.14), heart rate (r = -0.17), and body mass index (r = -0.11). That theoretically assumed associations between interoceptive accuracy and mental health indicators are not meta-analytically found raises further doubts about the validity, and even the very pragmatic value, of the HCT.

The Relationship Between Interoception and Metacognition

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Meessen ◽  
Verena Mainz ◽  
Siegfried Gauggel ◽  
Eftychia Volz-Sidiropoulou ◽  
Stefan Sütterlin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Interoceptive Awareness ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Heartbeat Perception ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. Recently, Garfinkel and Critchley (2013) proposed to distinguish between three facets of interoception: interoceptive sensibility, interoceptive accuracy, and interoceptive awareness. This pilot study investigated how these facets interrelate to each other and whether interoceptive awareness is related to the metacognitive awareness of memory performance. A sample of 24 healthy students completed a heartbeat perception task (HPT) and a memory task. Judgments of confidence were requested for each task. Participants filled in questionnaires assessing interoceptive sensibility, depression, anxiety, and socio-demographic characteristics. The three facets of interoception were found to be uncorrelated and interoceptive awareness was not related to metacognitive awareness of memory performance. Whereas memory performance was significantly related to metamemory awareness, interoceptive accuracy (HPT) and interoceptive awareness were not correlated. Results suggest that future research on interoception should assess all facets of interoception in order to capture the multifaceted quality of the construct.

Reactivity of Judgments of Learning in a Levels-of-Processing Paradigm

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 278-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eylul Tekin ◽  
Henry L. Roediger
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
Paired Associate ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Paired Associate Learning ◽  
Levels Of Processing ◽  
Pleasantness Rating ◽  
Associate Learning ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Reactive Effect ◽  
Target Words

Abstract. Recent studies have shown that judgments of learning (JOLs) are reactive measures in paired-associate learning paradigms. However, evidence is scarce concerning whether JOLs are reactive in other paradigms. In old/new recognition experiments, we investigated the reactivity effects of JOLs in a levels-of-processing (LOP) paradigm. In Experiments 1 and 2, for each word, subjects saw a yes/no orienting question followed by the target word and a response. Then, they either did or did not make a JOL. The yes/no questions were about target words’ appearances, rhyming properties, or category memberships. In Experiment 3, for each word, subjects gave a pleasantness rating or counted the letter “e ”. Our results revealed that JOLs enhanced recognition across all orienting tasks in Experiments 1 and 2, and for the e-counting task in Experiment 3. This reactive effect was salient for shallow tasks, attenuating – but not eliminating – the LOP effect after making JOLs. We conclude that JOLs are reactive in LOP paradigms and subjects encode words more effectively when providing JOLs.

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