ИСТИНА

Currently, there is an increasing body of data linking interoception and emotion. The same time, there is a call for separate evaluation of the role of emotion in different aspects of interoceptive processing. In a sample of 25 females undergoing fMRI-based heartbeat detection task, we evaluated both an objective behavioral measure of task-related efficacy — interoceptive accuracy (IAc), and a subjective estimate of the efficacy in heartbeat detection (SEf), self-rated by a questionnaire after the task. The same day participants completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The IAc and SEf appeared to show no correlation (Ro = –0.1, p = 0.6), and only the IAc was associated with typical fMRI interoceptive activation. Path analysis reveled that the IAc was positively influenced by the state anxiety and negatively — by the trait anxiety and alexithymia. The same time, SEf was positively influenced by the alexithymia and negatively — by the both state and trait anxiety. Higher levels of state anxiety resulted in increased IAc but decreased SEf, which can be related to the increased attention to internal signals and, the same time, to lower self-efficacy. Higher level of alexithymia resulted in decreased IAc but increased SEf. We propose that alexithymia may interfere with the ability to judge one’s own performance during the interoceptive task, leading to mismatch in subjective and objective estimates of efficacy.