# Neurophysiological dynamics of visceral signals in emotion, self and bodily consciousness

## TL;DR

This paper explores how signals from internal organs like the heart and lungs influence brain functions related to emotion, self-awareness, and bodily consciousness.

## Contribution

The paper offers a detailed electrophysiological perspective on interoception's role in shaping emotional and self-related brain processes.

## Key findings

- Bodily signals modulate brain electrophysiological dynamics, influencing emotional and self-related processing.
- Altered interoceptive neurophysiology may contribute to psychopathological deficits.
- Developmental aspects of interoceptive electrophysiology during infancy and adolescence are beginning to be understood.

## Abstract

Bodily organs such as the heart and the lungs play a crucial role in maintaining physiological homeostasis in a continuous closed-loop interaction with the brain. Beyond their vital role, recent developments have emphasized the remarkable contribution of bodily signals to high-level brain functions. A direct route by which bodily signals influence brain functioning is via modulation of electrophysiological dynamics, which in turn influences the integration and processing of emotional and self-related information regulating our conscious experience. Drawing on electrophysiological investigations, we provide a comprehensive picture of the electrophysiology of interoception and its contribution to emotion, self and bodily consciousness, with a focus on cardiac, respiratory and gastric interoception. We provide evidence that altered neurophysiological responses in interoception might underlie deficits in psychopathology. We also summarize the limited evidence on the development of the electrophysiology of interoception during infancy and adolescence, as well as describing some attempts to investigate causality in the neural mechanisms underpinning interoception. A number of important areas for further research are highlighted.