Chemis Isabella M, Köchli Laura, Marino Stephanie, Russell Bruce R, Stephan Klaas Enno, Harrison Olivia K
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Translational Neuromodeling Unit, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2025 Aug 20. doi: 10.3758/s13415-025-01328-7.
Impaired breathing-related interoceptive abilities have been associated with adverse outcomes, including higher levels of anxiety. However, brain connectivity patterns related to poor interoception, and how these may be modulated by anxiety, are poorly understood. This exploratory study investigated connectivity profiles associated with breathing-related interoceptive abilities in 65 volunteers who underwent ultrahigh-field (7 Tesla) "resting-state" magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), as well as completed a breathing-related interoceptive task and an anxiety questionnaire. The breathing task measured four aspects of interoceptive ability (sensitivity, decision bias, metacognitive bias, and insight), which served alongside anxiety to explain amygdala connectivity in the rs-fMRI data. We observed that connectivity between bilateral amygdala and insula cortex was linked to the level of confidence ascribed to respiratory-related interoceptive judgements (metacognitive bias), while left-lateralised connectivity between amygdala and insula cortex was associated with a worsened ability to detect inspiratory resistances (interoceptive sensitivity). Both reductions in confidence and sensitivity correlated weakly with heightened anxiety levels at a behavioural level. By contrast, the connectivity differences across levels of metacognitive bias and interoceptive sensitivity were not accounted for by anxiety. Our findings could suggest that, in the general population, connectivity between amygdala and insula cortex is linked to breathing-related interoceptive processes in a manner that is largely independent of anxiety.
与呼吸相关的内感受能力受损与不良后果有关，包括更高水平的焦虑。然而，与内感受不良相关的脑连接模式，以及这些模式如何受到焦虑的调节，目前还知之甚少。这项探索性研究调查了65名志愿者与呼吸相关的内感受能力的连接特征，这些志愿者接受了超高场（7特斯拉）“静息态”磁共振成像（rs-fMRI），并完成了一项与呼吸相关的内感受任务和一份焦虑问卷。呼吸任务测量了内感受能力的四个方面（敏感性、决策偏差、元认知偏差和洞察力），这些方面与焦虑一起用于解释rs-fMRI数据中的杏仁核连接情况。我们观察到，双侧杏仁核与岛叶皮质之间的连接与归因于呼吸相关内感受判断的信心水平（元认知偏差）有关，而杏仁核与岛叶皮质之间的左侧化连接与检测吸气阻力的能力下降（内感受敏感性）有关。在行为层面，信心和敏感性的降低与焦虑水平的升高都有微弱的相关性。相比之下，元认知偏差和内感受敏感性水平之间的连接差异不能用焦虑来解释。我们的研究结果可能表明，在普通人群中，杏仁核与岛叶皮质之间的连接与呼吸相关的内感受过程有关，且在很大程度上独立于焦虑。
