Cited by 54Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlTactile and Sensory Interactions

Categorical Interoception: Perceptual Organization of Sensations From Inside

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Petersen, Sibylle, Schroijen, Mathias, Mölders, Christina, Zenker, Sebastian, Van den Bergh, Omer·2014·Psychological Science

Abstract

Adequate perception of bodily sensations is essential to protect health. However, misinterpretation of signals from within the body is common and can be fatal, for example, in asthma or cardiovascular disease. We suggest that placing interoceptive stimuli into interoceptive categories (e.g., the category of symptoms vs. the category of benign sensations) leads to perceptual generalization effects that may underlie misinterpretation. In two studies, we presented stimuli inducing respiratory effort (respiratory loads) either organized into categories or located on a continuous dimension. We found pervasive effects of categorization on magnitude estimations, affective stimulus evaluations, stimulus recognition, and breathing behavior. These findings indicate the need for broadening perspectives on interoception to include basal processes of stimulus organization, in order for interoceptive bias to be understood. The results are relevant to a wide range of interoception-related phenomena, from emotion to symptom perception.

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  • The interoceptive sensing of internal information can be built upon higher predictive representations, as shown by the observation that emotional feelings and reactions to interoceptive challenges will conform to 'artificial' categorical priors.

    “The interoceptive sensing of internal information can thus be built upon higher predictive representations as shown by the observation that emotional feelings and reactions to interoceptive challenges will conform to 'artificial' categorical priors [47].”

    From Interoception and emotion. (2017) · cites this paper as [47]

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  • Identifying the state of the body cannot be solved by pure sensing because afferent signals from body sensors (interosensations) are not only noisy but often ambiguous.

    “Identifying the state of the body represents a problem that cannot be solved by pure sensing because afferent signals from body sensors (interosensations) are not only noisy but often ambiguous (89).”

    From Interoception and Mental Health: A Roadmap. (2018) · cites this paper as [89]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says bodily sensations often have ambiguous onset and location and lack an objective perceptual standard, supporting the need for more than sensing alone. The Instruments section (page unavailable) describes background noise specifically in respiratory perception, but does not establish that afferent signals from body sensors are generally noisy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  • Interoceptive processing can be noisy and ambiguous.

    “This can be problematic in Western science because interoceptive processing can be noisy and ambiguous (Petersen et al., 2014).”

    From Mindfulness, Interoception, and the Body: A Contemporary Perspective (2019) · cites this paper as Petersen et al., 2014

  • Empirical findings from basic and clinical science increasingly demonstrate the psychological influences of gut microbiota, even linking the expression of mood disorder to species of colonic microbes.

    “Empirical findings from both basic and clinical science increasingly demonstrate the psychological influences of gut microbiota, even linking the expression of mood disorder to species of colonic microbes [33].”

    From Interoception and emotion. (2017) · cites this paper as [33]

    The Introduction and General discussion (page numbers unavailable) address how categorizing breathing sensations affects perception and emotion, not the psychological effects of gut microbiota. Searches for colonic microbes, mood disorders, intestinal microbiome, and depression found no passage addressing the attributed claim. (LLM, conf=0.77)

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  1. Wertheimer M., 1961, Classics in psychology, 1032

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Authors
Petersen, S., Schroijen, M., Mölders, C., Zenker, S., & Van den Bergh, O.
Affiliations
  • KU Leuven (BE)
  • Universität Hamburg (DE)
  • Research Group on Health Psychology, KU Leuven
Venue
Psychological Science
Published
2014-02-25
Volume
25
Issue
5
Pages
1059-1066
ISSN
  • 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9280
OpenAlex
W2132571715
Cited by
54
References
31
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 7
FWCI
5.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Luxembourg) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
  • Vlaamse regering
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
Keywords
interoception, respiratory effort, magnitude estimation, affective evaluation, stimulus recognition, breathing behavior, symptom perception, stimulus organization
MeSH terms
Adult, Cognition, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Respiration, Sensation, Software, Respiratory Mechanics, Young Adult, Interoception

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