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…