INTEROCEPTION, INFLAMMATION AND BELIEFS; AN UNEXPLORED INTERACTION UNVEILED

Theoretical background: Mindsets have been investigated as predictors for physiological outcomes, supporting a strong link between brain and body. However, how broader beliefs and mindsets link to interoception remains unexplored.
This study investigates the relationships between interoception, mindsets, and beliefs, and their associations with functional connectivity (fMRI) and inflammatory markers by giving participants an interoceptive challenge, namely, a typhoid vaccine.
Methodology: Participants visited the lab twice, to receive a typhoid vaccine and placebo (interoceptive challenge) in a double blinded design. At each visit, participants completed in a battery of questionnaires, including the Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ), Primal World Belief Inventory (PI-99), and a Health Mindset Questionnaire. Blood samples were collected at baseline and 5 hours post injection to measure inflammatory cytokine levels (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, TNF-α, and CRP). Participants also completed EEG tasks (Heartbeat evoked potentials (HEPs)), and fMRI tasks (emotion and interoception task) and resting-state fMRI.
Results: Subdiaphragmatic BPQ scores significantly correlated with “enticing”, “improvable”, “interesting”, “meaning” and “needs me” PI-99 scores. “Interesting” and “meaning” PI-99 scores were also correlated with total and mean BPQ scores. Functional connectivity differed between placebo and vaccine conditions, with these differences significantly predicted by depression and anxiety scores.
Discussion: Further analyses will elucidate relationships between interoception and inflammation and will examine how inflammatory markers correlate with primal world beliefs and predict brain connectivity patterns.
Potential impact/relevance for the field: This is the first study investigating the interplay between beliefs, mindsets and interoception and inflammatory makers.