Lab of Action Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
Lab of Action Body, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK; The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK.
Neuropsychologia. 2019 Nov;134:107201. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107201. Epub 2019 Sep 25.
How can interoceptive accuracy, i.e. the objective ability to identify interoceptive signals, be improved? In the present study, we investigated whether non-invasive stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (taVNS) modulates cardiac interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive sensibility, i.e. confidence in the identification of bodily signals, and interoceptive awareness, i.e. the capacity to evaluate one's ability in the objective task. Using a single-blind within-subjects design we compared participants' performance on the heartbeat counting task and on the heartbeat discrimination task during active and sham taVNS stimulation. Results revealed improved accuracy during active taVNS on the heartbeat discrimination task but not on the heartbeat counting task. Participants were also more confident during active stimulation, but interoceptive awareness was not modulated by taVNS. These findings show that taVNS can modulate interoceptive processing and suggest its potential as a tool to investigate body-brain interactions.
内感受准确性（即准确识别内感受信号的客观能力）如何提高？在本研究中，我们调查了非侵入性刺激迷走神经耳支（taVNS）是否会调节心脏内感受准确性、内感受感受性（即对身体信号识别的信心）和内感受意识（即客观任务中评估自身能力的能力）。我们使用单盲自身对照设计，比较了参与者在主动和假 taVNS 刺激下进行心跳计数任务和心跳辨别任务的表现。结果显示，在心跳辨别任务中，主动 taVNS 时准确性提高，但在心跳计数任务中则不然。参与者在主动刺激时也更有信心，但 taVNS 并未调节内感受意识。这些发现表明 taVNS 可以调节内感受处理，并提示其作为研究身心相互作用的工具的潜力。
