Evidence for a large-scale brain system supporting allostasis and interoception in humans

Ian R. Kleckner (), Jiahe Zhang, Alexandra Touroutoglou, Lorena Chanes, Chenjie Xia, W. Kyle Simmons, Karen S. Quigley, Bradford C. Dickerson and Lisa Feldman Barrett ()
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Ian R. Kleckner: Northeastern University
Jiahe Zhang: Northeastern University
Alexandra Touroutoglou: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 15 Parkman Street
Lorena Chanes: Northeastern University
Chenjie Xia: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, 149 13th Street
W. Kyle Simmons: Laureate Institute for Brain Research
Karen S. Quigley: Northeastern University
Bradford C. Dickerson: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, 149 13th Street
Lisa Feldman Barrett: Northeastern University

Nature Human Behaviour, 2017, vol. 1, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Large-scale intrinsic brain systems have been identified for exteroceptive senses (such as sight, hearing and touch). We introduce an analogous system for representing sensations from within the body, called interoception, and demonstrate its relation to regulating peripheral systems in the body, called allostasis. Employing the recently introduced Embodied Predictive Interoception Coding (EPIC) model, we used tract-tracing studies of macaque monkeys, followed by two intrinsic functional magnetic resonance imaging samples (N = 280 and N = 270) to evaluate the existence of an intrinsic allostatic–interoceptive system in the human brain. Another sample (N = 41) allowed us to evaluate the convergent validity of the hypothesized allostatic–interoceptive system by showing that individuals with stronger connectivity between system hubs performed better on an implicit index of interoceptive ability related to autonomic fluctuations. Implications include insights for the brain’s functional architecture, dissolving the artificial boundary between mind and body, and unifying mental and physical illness.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0069

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