# Operationalizing the Mind–Body Connection: Interoception via the Autonomic Nervous System

## TL;DR

The study suggests that interoception, or sensing the body's internal state, is best understood through the autonomic nervous system rather than individual organs.

## Contribution

The paper introduces ANSception as a novel framework for interoception that integrates signals from multiple organ systems.

## Key findings

- Participants reported integrating information from two or more organ systems during ANSception.
- ANSception showed unique and robust physiological correlations, such as a strong positive correlation between ANSception and blood pressure during meditation.

## Abstract

Traditional interoception research investigates cardioception, respiroception, or gastroception as a proxy for the sense of the body as a whole. These single-organ tasks sacrifice construct and ecological validity for a content validity that has been elusive. We propose that interoception is better captured by one’s sense of their own autonomic nervous system, or ANSception. The ANS integrates multimodal signals via lesser-myelinated neurons, making it an integral part of the interoceptive nervous system. Thirty-four participants moved a slider to reflect their perceived sympathetic activation (ANSception) while their physiology was monitored. Most participants reported integrating information from two or more organ systems during ANSception. The relationship between ANSception and physiology showed unique but often robust responses by condition and physiological measure. For example, one participant had a negative-to-positive-to-negative pattern for ANSception-EDA correlations from baseline to stimulus to recovery (r = −0.677; 0.657; −0.507, p < 0.001). Another participant had a strong positive correlation between their ANSception and blood pressure (r = 0.601, p < 0.001) during a five-minute reportedly meditative state. We propose that the role of interoception is to scan, integrate and manage information across organ systems, and we conclude that ANSception better captures this role than traditional single-organ tasks.