Interoceptive awareness is associated with enhanced neural response to unpleasant images

Authors

• Rebecca J. Compton, Haverford CollegeFollow
• Tiffany Mikulis '25, Class of 2025, Haverford College
• Caroline Frost '26, Class of 2026, Haverford College
• Danylo Shudrenko '26, Class of 2026, Haverford College
• Rosaleen Cochran '25, Class of 2025, Bryn Mawr College
• Trinity Ellis '25, Class of 2025, Haverford College
• Aidan O'Sullivan '26, Class of 2026, Haverford College
• Tapsi Suryawanshi '27, Class of 2027, Haverford College
• Nadine Tang '27, Class of 2027, Haverford College

Document Type

Journal Article

Role

Author

Published In

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Haverford Libraries Support

Open Publishing Agreement - Oxford University Press

Volume

21

Issue

1

Article Number

nsag081

Publication Date

9-29-2026

Abstract

Interoception, or perception of internal bodily signals, is thought to be an important contributor to emotional experience and cognition, and individual differences in interoceptive beliefs may affect cognitive processing of emotional information. Addressing this issue, the present study examined the correlation between self-reported interoceptive awareness and EEG markers of motivated attention to emotional versus neutral images. A sample of undergraduates (n = 115) viewed images of neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant scenes while EEG was recorded, and the late positive potential (LPP) was extracted for each image type. Group results replicate prior findings of enhanced LPP signals for pleasant and unpleasant compared to neutral images. Moreover, a greater degree of enhanced LPP for unpleasant images (versus pleasant or neutral images) was positively correlated with self-reported interoceptive awareness. Results support the role of interoceptive beliefs in cortical processing of emotional information.

Keywords

interoception, emotion, EEG, event-related potentials, late positive potential

Suggested Citation

Compton, Rebecca J. (Psychology), et al. (2026). "Interoceptive awareness is associated with enhanced neural response to unpleasant images." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 21(1). Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsag081