Author: Alessandro Messina1, Stefania Basilico2, Gabriella Bottini3, Gerardo Salvato4
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
<sup>2</sup> Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST "Grande Ospedale Metropolitano" Niguarda, Milano, Italy.
<sup>3</sup> Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST "Grande Ospedale Metropolitano" Niguarda, Milano, Italy; NeuroMi, Milan Centre for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy.
<sup>4</sup> Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST "Grande Ospedale Metropolitano" Niguarda, Milano, Italy; NeuroMi, Milan Centre for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: gerardo.salvato@unipv.it.
Conference/Journal: Conscious Cogn
Date published: 2022 May 28
Other:
Volume ID: 102 , Pages: 103358 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103358. , Word Count: 159
The way we perceive signals coming from the inside of the body (i.e., interoception) may influence the processing of information related to the self. In this study, we investigated whether interoceptive sensibility may play a role in autobiographical memory processes. We evaluated 41 healthy participants with a modified version of the Autobiographical Memory Test, also assessing specificity, vividness, emotional valence, and intensity for autobiographical and public memories. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire measuring interoceptive sensibility. Results showed that autobiographical memories were recalled with higher specificity, vividness, and emotional intensity than public memories. Interestingly, we found that participants with (self-reported) high interoceptive sensibility recalled more positive events in the autobiographical compared to the public condition. Our findings provided new evidence on the selective role of physiological aspects of bodily self-awareness in autobiographical memory, suggesting that interoception is fundamental for supporting adaptive emotion regulation processes when recollecting engrams related to the self.
Keywords: Autobiographical memory; Emotion; Interoception.
PMID: 35640530 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103358