Heartbeat and somatosensory perception

Our perception of the external world is influenced by internal bodily signals. For example, we recently showed that timing of stimulation along the cardiac cycle and spontaneous fluctuations of heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) amplitudes influence somatosensory perception and the associated neural p...

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Main Authors: Esra Al, Fivos Iliopoulos, Vadim V. Nikulin, Arno Villringer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-09-01
Series:NeuroImage
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921005243
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author Esra Al
Fivos Iliopoulos
Vadim V. Nikulin
Arno Villringer
author_facet Esra Al
Fivos Iliopoulos
Vadim V. Nikulin
Arno Villringer
author_sort Esra Al
collection DOAJ
description Our perception of the external world is influenced by internal bodily signals. For example, we recently showed that timing of stimulation along the cardiac cycle and spontaneous fluctuations of heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) amplitudes influence somatosensory perception and the associated neural processing (Al et al., 2020). While cardiac phase affected detection sensitivity and late components of the somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs), HEP amplitudes affected detection criterion and both early and late SEP components. In a new EEG study, we investigate whether these results are replicable in a modified paradigm, which includes two succeeding temporal intervals. In one of the intervals, subjects received a weak electrical finger stimulation and reported first whether they detected any stimulation and then allocated the stimulus to one of the two intervals. Our results confirm the previously reported cardiac cycle and prestimulus HEP effects on somatosensory perception and evoked potentials. In addition, we obtained two new findings. Source analyses in this and our original study show that the increased likelihood of conscious perception goes along with HEP fluctuations in parietal and posterior cingulate regions, known to play important roles in interoceptive processes. Furthermore, HEP amplitudes were shown to decrease when subjects engaged in the somatosensory task compared to a resting state condition. Our findings are consistent with the view that HEP amplitudes are a marker of interoceptive (versus exteroceptive) attention and provide a neural underpinning for this view.
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spelling doaj.art-801927514e8d47e7b2d1f9e55843d2332022-12-21T18:50:01ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722021-09-01238118247Heartbeat and somatosensory perceptionEsra Al0Fivos Iliopoulos1Vadim V. Nikulin2Arno Villringer3Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; MindBrainBody Institute, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany; Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Corresponding author at: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 101000 Moscow, RussiaDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; MindBrainBody Institute, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany; Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, GermanyOur perception of the external world is influenced by internal bodily signals. For example, we recently showed that timing of stimulation along the cardiac cycle and spontaneous fluctuations of heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) amplitudes influence somatosensory perception and the associated neural processing (Al et al., 2020). While cardiac phase affected detection sensitivity and late components of the somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs), HEP amplitudes affected detection criterion and both early and late SEP components. In a new EEG study, we investigate whether these results are replicable in a modified paradigm, which includes two succeeding temporal intervals. In one of the intervals, subjects received a weak electrical finger stimulation and reported first whether they detected any stimulation and then allocated the stimulus to one of the two intervals. Our results confirm the previously reported cardiac cycle and prestimulus HEP effects on somatosensory perception and evoked potentials. In addition, we obtained two new findings. Source analyses in this and our original study show that the increased likelihood of conscious perception goes along with HEP fluctuations in parietal and posterior cingulate regions, known to play important roles in interoceptive processes. Furthermore, HEP amplitudes were shown to decrease when subjects engaged in the somatosensory task compared to a resting state condition. Our findings are consistent with the view that HEP amplitudes are a marker of interoceptive (versus exteroceptive) attention and provide a neural underpinning for this view.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921005243Somatosensory processingPerceptual awarenessElectrophysiologyInteroception
spellingShingle Esra Al
Fivos Iliopoulos
Vadim V. Nikulin
Arno Villringer
Heartbeat and somatosensory perception
NeuroImage
Somatosensory processing
Perceptual awareness
Electrophysiology
Interoception
title Heartbeat and somatosensory perception
title_full Heartbeat and somatosensory perception
title_fullStr Heartbeat and somatosensory perception
title_full_unstemmed Heartbeat and somatosensory perception
title_short Heartbeat and somatosensory perception
title_sort heartbeat and somatosensory perception
topic Somatosensory processing
Perceptual awareness
Electrophysiology
Interoception
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921005243
work_keys_str_mv AT esraal heartbeatandsomatosensoryperception
AT fivosiliopoulos heartbeatandsomatosensoryperception
AT vadimvnikulin heartbeatandsomatosensoryperception
AT arnovillringer heartbeatandsomatosensoryperception