Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Neuroimage. 2019 Feb 1;186:595-606. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.037. Epub 2018 Nov 22.
Theoretical frameworks such as predictive coding suggest that the perception of the body and world - interoception and exteroception - involve intertwined processes of inference, learning, and prediction. In this framework, attention is thought to gate the influence of sensory information on perception. In contrast to exteroception, there is limited evidence for purely attentional effects on interoception. Here, we empirically tested if attentional focus modulates cortical processing of single heartbeats, using a newly-developed experimental paradigm to probe purely attentional differences between exteroceptive and interoceptive conditions in the heartbeat evoked potential (HEP) using EEG recordings. We found that the HEP is significantly higher during interoceptive compared to exteroceptive attention, in a time window of 524-620 ms after the R-peak. Furthermore, this effect predicted self-report measures of autonomic system reactivity. Our study thus provides direct evidence that the HEP is modulated by pure attention and suggests that this effect may provide a clinically relevant readout for assessing interoception.
理论框架，如预测编码，表明对身体和世界的感知 - 内感受和外感受 - 涉及到推断、学习和预测的交织过程。在这个框架中，注意力被认为是感官信息对感知影响的门控。与外感受不同，对内感受的纯粹注意力影响的证据有限。在这里，我们使用新开发的实验范式，通过 EEG 记录来探测心跳诱发电位（HEP）中在注意力上外感受和内感受条件之间的纯差异，实证测试了注意力焦点是否调节了单个心跳的皮层处理。我们发现，在 R 波后 524-620ms 的时间窗口内，与外感受注意力相比，内感受注意力时 HEP 明显更高。此外，这种效应预测了自主系统反应性的自我报告测量。因此，我们的研究提供了直接的证据，表明 HEP 受到纯注意力的调节，并表明这种效应可能为评估内感受提供了一个具有临床相关性的读出。
