Self-control and interoception: Linking the neural substrates of craving regulation and the prediction of aversive interoceptive states induced by inspiratory breathing restriction.

Following the interoceptive inference framework, we set out to replicate our previously reported association of self-control and interoceptive prediction and strived to investigate the neural underpinnings subserving the relationship between self-control and aversive interoceptive predictive models. To this end, we used fMRI and a within-subject design including an inspiratory breathing-load task to examine the prediction of aversive interoceptive perturbation and a craving-regulation for palatable foods task to measure self-control. In this current study, we could successfully replicate previous effects with an independent sample (n ​= ​39) and observed that individuals who 'over-estimated' their upcoming interoceptive state with respect to experienced dyspnea (i.

Self-control is linked to interoceptive inference: Craving regulation and the prediction of aversive interoceptive states induced with inspiratory breathing load.

The interoceptive inference framework suggests that our brain continuously anticipates future states of our body and aims to avoid events that might counteract homeostasis by minimizing prediction errors through active inference; e.g. appropriate actions.