Predictive coding and interoception

This event has now been cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.

Interoception is the sensing and processing of signals that arise within our bodies. The most studied interoceptive signal is that from the heart. We know that the when the heart beats our ability to detect other sensory signals, touch, sight and hearing is reduced. However, why this occurs is not known. Recent theoretical accounts of interoception have focussed on the role of prediction in interoception, the predictive-coding models of interoception. However, there is little empirical data to support these accounts. In this talk I will propose that our awareness of our cardiac signals is not likely to be based on baroreceptor signals but rather on cardiac related signals that are present on all exteroceptive channels. I will suggest that to interpret cardiac related signals we require a fuller understanding of the links between heart rate and signals arising from the heart beating.