Foreword.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Preface.................................................................................................................................................. 6
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 9
The importance of body sensations............................................................................................ 9
A brief history of the scientific research on interoception........................................................ 10
Predictive processing................................................................................................................ 21
Structure of the book................................................................................................................ 25
Chapter 1. How did it start? An evolutionary approach to consciousness......................................... 27
The end of the paradise and its consequences.......................................................................... 27
The roots of subjectivity........................................................................................................... 31
Higher consciousness................................................................................................................ 35
Summary................................................................................................................................... 38
Take-home messages................................................................................................................ 38
Chapter 2. From the body to the brain: The biological background.................................................. 40
Homeostatic (afferent interoceptive) pathways........................................................................ 42
Somatosensory pathways.......................................................................................................... 48
Integration................................................................................................................................. 51
Affective aspects....................................................................................................................... 53
The origins of the self............................................................................................................... 56
A final word on body sensations............................................................................................... 61
Summary................................................................................................................................... 62
Take-home messages................................................................................................................ 62
Chapter 3. What can we sense? Individual differences in interoceptive accuracy............................ 63
General methodological considerations.................................................................................... 63
Early conditioning studies........................................................................................................ 66
Visceral modalities 1 - Heartbeat............................................................................................. 69
Visceral modalities 2 - Blood pressure.................................................................................... 78
Visceral modalities 3 - Respiratory modalities........................................................................ 79
Visceral modalities 4 - Gastric modalities...
