Post date: Feb 21, 2018 9:01:16 AM
Interoception - or the sense of the internal state of the body - is key to our adaptive behavior and sense of self. Interoception has been recently conceptualized within a predictive processing perspective, according to which the brain continuously generate predictions about interoceptive signals, and uses prediction errors for homeostatic and allostatic regulation (Barrett and Simmons 2015; Pezzulo 2013; Pezzulo et al. 2015; Seth et al. 2012; Seth 2013).
Within this general theoretical framework, we have developed a theory (called embodied predictive coding) that formalizes the multisensory integration of interoceptive signals with exteroceptive (perceptual) and proprioceptive streams, which is required for adaptive behavior (Pezzulo 2013). This theory entails a number of empirical predictions, which concern for example the ways bodily state influences perception, which we actively test (Pezzulo et al 2018).
Selected pubs:
Iodice P. Porciello G., Bufalari I., Barca L., Pezzulo G. (2019) An interoceptive illusion of effort induced by false heart-rate feedback. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (28) 13897-13902 [link][press coverage]
Pezzulo G., Iodice, P., Barca, L., Chausse, P., Monceau, S., Mermillod, M. (2018) Increased heart rate facilitates the processing of fearful but not disgusted faces. Scientific Reports, 8, 398 [link]
Pezzulo, G., Rigoli, F., Friston, K. (2015) Active Inference, homeostatic regulation and adaptive behavioural control. Progress in Neurobiology 134, 17-35 [link][pdf]
Pezzulo, G. (2013). Why do you fear the Bogeyman? An embodied predictive coding model of perceptual inference. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 14(3):902-911 [link]
Other Pubs:
Barrett, L. F. & Simmons, W. K. (2015) Interoceptive predictions in the brain. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 16, 419–429
Seth, A. K. (2013) Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self. Trends Cogn. Sci. 17, 565–573
Seth, A. K., Suzuki, K. & Critchley, H. D. (2012) An Interoceptive Predictive Coding Model of Conscious Presence. Front. Psychol. 2