Interaction between interoception and bodily self experience

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The perception of being located within the own body is an essential feature of everyday life and relies on the simultaneous processing of a variety of sensory qualities. Disturbances in the underlying processes result in dissociation-like experiences, which can even be induced in healthy participants. There is growing evidence suggesting that interoceptive signals critically contribute to the perception of the own body as the location of entrenchment of the self. However, experimental data on the interaction between bodily self-awareness and interoception is missing. The proposed study aims at bridging this gab. In three experiments, the influence of interoception on bodily self-awareness and vice versa is tested by the implementation of a) an interoception awareness task, and b) the experimental induction of dissociative experiences. In a third experiment c), after an interoception awareness task, the neural correlates of mental rotation of the self are assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging, focusing on activity differences in highly integrative brain areas such as the temporo-parietal junction and the insula. The results might strength our knowledge about the complex interactions between basic perception and highly cognitive percepts related to the own body and might help to understand dissociative body experiences in certain mental disorders.