Objective: Various aspects of interoception are regarded as temporally stable phenomena. This study investigates the temporal stability of and longitudinal associations between interoceptive accuracy (as measured with heartbeat tracking task) and a related concept, body awareness (assessed by self-report).
Methods: In a two-month longitudinal study 103 university students (31% male, 23.34±4.34yrs.; 44 Hungarians; 36.4% male, 21.4±1.67yrs. and 59 Norwegians; 25.4% male, 24.8±5.09yrs) were investigated using Schandry's heartbeat tracking task and the Body Awareness Questionnaire.
Results: Both interoceptive accuracy and body awareness showed good test-retest reliability (r=0.60 and r=0.73, respectively; p<0.001 in both cases). The two concepts were independent of each other at baseline (r=0.06, p=0.587), and did not predict each other over an eight weeks period of time.
Conclusion: Self-reported body awareness and objectively measured interoceptive accuracy are temporally stable and not related to each other.
Keywords: Body awareness; Heartbeat tracking task; Interoception; Interoceptive accuracy; Interoceptive awareness.
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