0000000000235441

AUTHOR

Anna Pohl

Somatosensory Illusions Elicited by Sham Electromagnetic Field Exposure: Experimental Evidence for a Predictive Processing Account of Somatic Symptom Perception

OBJECTIVE According to the predictive processing theory of somatic symptom generation, body sensations are determined by somatosensory input and central nervous predictions about this input. We examined how expectations shape predictions and consequently bodily perceptions in a task eliciting illusory sensations as laboratory analogue of medically unexplained symptoms. METHODS Using the framework of signal detection theory, the influence of sham Wi-Fi on response bias (c) and somatosensory sensitivity (d') for tactile stimuli was examined using the somatic signal detection task (SSDT). A healthy student sample (n = 83) completed the SSDT twice (sham Wi-Fi on/off) in a randomized order after…

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Contingent biofeedback outperforms other methods to enhance the accuracy of cardiac interoception: A comparison of short interventions.

Abstract Background and objectives Deviations in interoception might contribute to the development and maintenance of mental disorders. The improvement of interoceptive accuracy (IA) is desirable but assessment and training methods remain controversial. For instance, it was assumed that performance increases in heartbeat counting paradigms after cardiac feedback were due to an improvement of knowledge with regard to heart rate rather than due to an actual improvement in IA. Methods Here, we examined effects of contingent cardiac feedback training, non-contingent cardiac feedback, mindfulness practice, and a waiting period with external attentional focus on IA. 100 healthy participants under…

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The interplay of interoceptive accuracy, facets of interoceptive sensibility, and trait anxiety: A network analysis

Abstract Interoception is the sense of the body's physiological state. Both the ability to accurately perceive bodily signals, and the self-reported sensibility for the body were assumed to be reciprocally associated with negative affect. Up to now, the specific interplay between dimensions of interoception and negative affect remains largely unknown. We investigated the interplay of cardioceptive accuracy assessed by a heartbeat tracking task, facets of interoceptive sensibility as measured by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, and trait anxiety as measured by the trait version of the State-Trait-Anxiety inventory across two studies (n = 243) using a network analyt…

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