Beyond accuracy: interoceptive self-appraisal and the meaning of bodily signals.

Authors

Fiorella Del Popolo Cristaldi, Leah Banellis, Gioia Bottesi, Micah G Allen

Published in

Trends in cognitive sciences. Sep 22, 2026. Epub Sep 22, 2026.

Abstract

For decades, accuracy in detecting internal bodily signals has been considered an important component of emotional experience. Yet this link remains elusive. Across methods and domains, interoceptive accuracy shows inconsistent associations with emotion and psychopathology. We argue this mismatch reflects a hierarchy of interoceptive processing: accuracy measures capture how bodily signals are detected, whereas emotion depends on metacognitive appraisals of what those signals mean, their reliability, and what they imply about the self. We introduce interoceptive self-appraisal (ISA) as a higher-order process through which bodily sensations are interpreted in context and assigned significance. ISA provides a framework for investigating affective vulnerability and developmental pathways to psychopathology. By integrating disparate theories of bodily appraisal, we outline a roadmap for interoception research.

PMID:
42833935
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Oct 2026.

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