Interoception is the awareness of our body’s internal physical and emotional states. Interoceptive awareness supports a range of basic and more advanced functions such as knowing when to go to the toilet, being aware that you are becoming angry or upset and being able to self-regulate. When young people have not yet developed interoception skills, it can be difficult for them to recognise and manage feelings and emotions.
Resources
Research Articles
Click the links below to download open-access research articles on interoception.
Discrepancies between dimensions of interoception in Autism Implications for emotion and anxiety.
The 'Interoception' and 'Hand Model of the Brain' videos are from the Student Wellbeing Hub, linked here under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Interoception references and further reading
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2019). General capabilities.
Barrett LF, Quigley KS, Hamilton P. 2016 An active inference theory of allostasis and interoception in depression. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371: 20160011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0011
Craig, A. D., & Craig, A. D. (2009). How do you feel--now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nature reviews neuroscience, 10(1). Doi: 10.1038/nrn2555
Critchley, H. D., & Garfinkel, S. N. (2017). Interoception and emotion. Current opinion in psychology, 17, 7-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.020
Davies, Catherine, Di Rodd, Kerry Parsons, and Emma Goodall. "The 8th Sense: Interoception." DECD, Adelaide
Department for Education, South Australia. (2019). Interoception Activity Guide 301.
Department for Education, South Australia. (2019). Ready to Learn - Interoception Kit*.
Fiacconi, C. M., Kouptsova, J. E., & Köhler, S. (2017). A role for visceral feedback and interoception in feelings-of-knowing. Consciousness and cognition, 53, 70-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Garfinkel, S. N., Tiley, C., O'Keeffe, S., Harrison, N. A., Seth, A. K., & Critchley, H. D. (2016). Discrepancies between dimensions of interoception in autism: Implications for emotion and anxiety. Biological psychology, 114, 117-126.
Goodall, E. (2016). Interoception 101. DECD, Adelaide.
Goodall, E. (2020). Interoception as a proactive tool to decrease challenging behaviour. Scan, 39(2).
Hackham East Primary School (2019). Our Interoception Journey. SERU, Adelaide.
Healthy Possibilities. (2019). Home [YouTube channel].
Khalsa, S. S., Adolphs, R., Cameron, O. G., Critchley, H. D., Davenport, P. W., Feinstein, J. S., ... & Meuret, A. E. (2018). Interoception and mental health: a roadmap. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(6), 501-513.
Mahler, K. (2015). Interoception: The eighth sensory system. Shawnee, KS: AAPC.
Mehling, W. E., Chesney, M. A., Metzler, T. J., Goldstein, L. A., Maguen, S., Geronimo, C., ... & Neylan, T. C. (2018). A 12‐week integrative exercise program improves self‐reported mindfulness and interoceptive awareness in war veterans with posttraumatic stress symptoms. Journal of clinical psychology, 74(4), 554-565. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.22549
Schauder, K. B., Mash, L. E., Bryant, L. K. & Cascio, C. J. (2015). Interoceptive ability and body awareness in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 131, 193-200. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.11.002
Shah, P., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2017). From heart to mind: linking interoception, emotion, and theory of mind. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 93, 220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.02.010
Shah, P. (2016). Interoception: the eighth sensory system: practical solutions for improving self-regulation, self-awareness and social understanding of individuals with autism spectrum and related disorders. J Autism Dev Disord (2016) 46: 3193. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2848-8
Tsakiris M, Critchley H. 2016 Interoception beyond homeostasis: affect, cognition and mental health. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371: 20160002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0002
Weiss, C., Tsakiris, M., Haggard, P., & Schütz-Bosbach, S. (2014). Agency in the sensorimotor system and its relation to explicit action awareness. Neuropsychologia, 52, 82-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.09.034