Two weeks to tune in: Evaluating the effects of a short‐term body scan on interoception
Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being September 4, 2025 Andreas Schwerdtfeger, Bernhard Weber, Christian Rominger 2 citations
A two-week daily auditory body scan intervention can enhance interoception—the perception of internal bodily signals—as measured by heartbeat detection tasks and self-reported awareness. Two pre-registered randomized trials compared the body scan to guided imagery (Study 1, 85 participants) or a passive control (Study 2, 90 participants). Both studies found improvements in heartbeat tracking accuracy, confidence in bodily perceptions, and multidimensional interoceptive awareness after the body scan. However, guided imagery produced similar benefits, suggesting that structured attention to the body, rather than the specific practice, may drive these effects.