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Abstract

Background: Quattrocki and Friston (2012) argued that abnormalities in interoception–the process of representing one’s internal physiological states–could lie at the heart of autism, because of the critical role interoception plays in the ontogeny of social-affective processes. This proposal drew criticism from proponents of the alexithymia hypothesis, who argue that social-affective and underlying interoceptive impairments are not a feature of autism per se, but of alexithymia (a condition characterised by difficulties describing and identifying one's own emotions), which commonly co-occurs with autism. Despite the importance of this debate for our understanding of ASD, and of the role of interoceptive impairments in psychopathology more generally, direct empirical evidence is scarce and inconsistent.

Methods: Experiment 1 examined in a sample of 137 neurotypical individuals the association among autistic traits, alexithymia, and interoceptive accuracy on a standard heartbeat tracking measure of interoceptive accuracy. In Experiment 2, interoceptive accuracy was assessed in 46 adults with ASD (27 of whom had clinically-significant alexithymia) and 48 neurotypical adults.

Results: Experiment 1 confirmed strong associations between autistic traits and alexithymia, but yielded no evidence to suggest that either was associated with interoceptive difficulties. Similarly, Experiment 2 provided no evidence for interoceptive impairments in autistic adults, irrespective of any co-occurring alexithymia. Bayesian analyses consistently supported the null hypothesis.

Conclusions: The observations pose a significant challenge to notions that interoceptive impairments constitute a core feature of either ASD or alexithymia, at least as far as the direct perception of interoceptive signals is concerned.

General scientific summary: This article suggests that impairments in interoception–the process of representing one’s internal physiological states–do not lie at the heart of either autism or alexithymia.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© American Psychological Association, 2018. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article will be available, upon publication, at http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/abn/index.aspx.
Publisher Keywords:	Autism; Alexithymia; Interoception; Heartbeat tracking; Self awareness
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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