3,551
Views
99
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Interoceptive sensitivity predicts sensitivity to the emotions of others

, , &
Pages 1435-1448 | Received 17 Jun 2013, Accepted 26 Jan 2014, Published online: 21 Feb 2014
 

Abstract

Some theories of emotion emphasise a close relationship between interoception and subjective experiences of emotion. In this study, we used facial expressions to examine whether interoceptive sensibility modulated emotional experience in a social context. Interoceptive sensibility was measured using the heartbeat detection task. To estimate individual emotional sensitivity, we made morphed photos that ranged between a neutral and an emotional facial expression (i.e., anger, sadness, disgust and happy). Recognition rates of particular emotions from these photos were calculated and considered as emotional sensitivity thresholds. Our results indicate that participants with accurate interoceptive awareness are sensitive to the emotions of others, especially for expressions of sadness and happy. We also found that false responses to sad faces were closely related with an individual's degree of social anxiety. These results suggest that interoceptive awareness modulates the intensity of the subjective experience of emotion and affects individual traits related to emotion processing.

View correction statement:
Corrigendum

This work was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI, Grant Numbers [23700318], [12J10119], by the MEXT of Japan. We would like to thank Riko Sato for helping to conduct the experiments.

This work was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI, Grant Numbers [23700318], [12J10119], by the MEXT of Japan. We would like to thank Riko Sato for helping to conduct the experiments.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.