Looking into myself: Changes in interoceptive sensitivity during mirror self-observation

Vivien Ainley; Ana Tajadura-Jiménez; Aikaterini Fotopoulou; Manos Tsakiris

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01468.x

Looking into myself: Changes in interoceptive sensitivity during mirror self-observation

Vivien Ainley^*, Ana Tajadura-Jiménez, Aikaterini Fotopoulou, Manos Tsakiris

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

131 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Interoceptive sensitivity is an essential component of recent models of "the self." Increased focus on the self (e.g., self-observation in a mirror) can enhance aspects of self-processing. We examined whether self-observation also enhances interoceptive sensitivity. Participants performed a heartbeat detection task while looking at their own face in a mirror or at a black screen. There was significant improvement in interoceptive sensitivity in the mirror condition for those participants with lower interoceptive sensitivity at baseline. This effect was independent of the order of conditions, gender, age, body mass index, habitual exercise, and changes in heart rate. Our results suggest that self-observation may represent a viable way of manipulating individuals' interoceptive sensitivity, in order to directly test causal relations between interoceptive sensitivity and exteroceptive self-processing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1672-1676
Number of pages	5
Journal	Psychophysiology
Volume	49
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01468.x
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2012

Keywords

Heartbeat detection
Individual differences
Interoception
Mirror self-observation

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10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01468.x

Cite this

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AU - Tsakiris, Manos

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Looking into myself: Changes in interoceptive sensitivity during mirror self-observation

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Keywords

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