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Islam, Shahriar: The Cardiovascular Mechanisms of Interoceptive Awareness: Effects of Paced Breathing

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Title: The Cardiovascular Mechanisms of Interoceptive Awareness: Effects of Paced Breathing

Name: Shahriar Islam

Major: Biological Sciences

School affiliation: School of Arts and Sciences

Programs: Aresty – Research or Conference Funding Recipient

Other contributors: Mateo Leganes Fonteneau

Abstract: Interoceptive awareness is the ability to perceive internal bodily sensations such as hunger, thirst, and specifically for the purpose of this project, the rhythm of one’s heartbeat. Being aware of interoceptive signals in your body is critical to overall mental health and well-being, as difficulties in interoceptive processing can disrupt emotional and cognitive regulation. Interoceptive awareness can be quantified by assessing sensitivity to heartbeats. Recent studies have aimed to develop new techniques to increase cardiovascular interoceptive awareness as a potential clinical tool but without much success. This project seeks to investigate whether a paced breathing task that modulates the cardiovascular system can increase interoceptive awareness, indexed by the ability to perceive heartbeats.