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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.04.30.070490

Interoceptive Awareness and Affective Empathy Share Intrinsic Spatial Connectivity and Temporal Variability

Stoica, T.·Depue, B.
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Abstract

Awareness of internal bodily sensations (interoception, IA) and its connection to complex socioemotional phenomena like empathy have been postulated, yet its neural basis remains poorly understood. The present fMRI study employs independent component analysis (ICA) to investigate whether the Cognitive or Affective facets of empathy and IA share resting state network connectivity and/or variability (SDBOLD). Healthy participants viewed an abstract movie demonstrated to evoke strong connectivity in resting state brain networks (InScapes), and resultant connectivity and variability data was correlated with self-reported empathy and IA questionnaires. We demonstrate a bidirectional behavioral and neurobiological relationship between empathy and IA, depending on the type of empathy interrogated: Affective empathy and IA share both connectivity and variability, while Cognitive empathy and IA only share variability. Specifically, increased connectivity in the right inferior frontal operculum (rIFO) of a larger attention network was associated with increased vicarious experience but decreased awareness of inner body sensations. Furthermore, increased variability between brain regions of an interoceptive network was related to increased sensitivity to internal sensations along with discomfort alleviation arising from witnessing anothers distress. Finally, increased variability between brain regions subserving a mentalizing network related to not only an improved ability to take someones perspective, but also a better sense of mind-body interconnectedness. Overall, these findings suggest that the awareness of ones own internal body changes (IA) is related to the ability to feel and understand anothers emotional state (empathy) and critically, that this relationship is not task-dependent, but is reflected in the brains resting state neuroarchitecture. Methodologically, this work highlights the importance of utilizing network variability as a complementary window alongside functional connectivity to better understand neurological phenomena. Our results may be beneficial in aiding diagnosis in clinical populations such as autism spectrum disorder, where participants may be unable to complete tasks or questionnaires due to the severity of their socioemotional symptoms.

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Stoica, T., Depue, B.. 2020-05-02. Interoceptive Awareness and Affective Empathy Share Intrinsic Spatial Connectivity and Temporal Variability. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.30.070490

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