In the Body’s Eye: The Computational Anatomy of Interoceptive Inference

A formal model of cardiac active inference explains how signals from the heart influence perception of the outside world and confidence in that perception. Simulated experiments reproduce the defensive startle reflex and the link between the cardiac cycle and fear perception. Simulated interoceptive lesions reduce fear expectations, cause psychosomatic hallucinations, and worsen metacognitive biases. Synthetic heart-rate variability analyses show how the balance of arousal-priors and visceral prediction errors creates distinct patterns of physiological reactivity. The model provides a way to computationally characterize disordered brain-body interaction.

Study at a glance

Abstract

A growing body of evidence highlights the intricate linkage of exteroceptive perception to the rhythmic activity of the visceral body. In parallel, interoceptive inference theories of emotion and self-consciousness are on the rise in cognitive science. However, thus far no formal theory has emerged to integrate these twin domains; instead most extant work is conceptual in nature. Here, we introduce a formal model of cardiac active inference, which explains how ascending cardiac signals entrain exteroceptive sensory perception and confidence. Through simulated psychophysics, we reproduce the defensive startle reflex and commonly reported effects linking the cardiac cycle to fear perception. We further show that simulated ‘interoceptive lesions’ blunt fear expectations, induce psychosomatic hallucinations, and exacerbate metacognitive biases. Through synthetic heart-rate variability analyses, we illustrate how the balance of arousal-priors and visceral prediction errors produces idiosyncratic patterns of physiological reactivity. Our model thus offers the possibility to computationally phenotype disordered brain-body interaction.