Interoceptive accuracy, the ability to correctly perceive internal signals arising from the body: Men are better with heart signals; both sexes fail w/gastric or respiratory signals

Sex differences in interoceptive accuracy: A meta-analysis. Freya Prentice, Jennifer Murphy. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, November 25 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.030

Highlights

• Sex differences in interoceptive accuracy are reported, but results are mixed.

• This meta-analysis sought to confirm the presence or absence of sex differences.

• Poor cardiac accuracy on counting and discrimination tasks was observed in females.

• Effects were less stable for non-cardiac due to varied methods and sample sizes.

• Results were mixed for respiratory, and no differences were observed for gastric.

Abstract: Interoceptive accuracy, the ability to correctly perceive internal signals arising from the body, is thought to be disrupted in numerous mental and physical health conditions. Whilst evidence suggests poorer interoceptive accuracy in females compared to males, raising the possibility that interoceptive differences may relate to sex differences in mental and physical health, results concerning sex differences in interoceptive accuracy are mixed. Given such ambiguity, this meta-analysis aimed to establish the presence or absence of sex differences in interoceptive accuracy across cardiac, respiratory, and gastric domains. A review of 7956 abstracts resulted in 93 eligible studies. Results demonstrated superior accuracy in males across cardiac, but not gastric, tasks, while findings on respiratory tasks were mixed. Effect sizes were consistent across cardiac tasks, but instability and/or moderate heterogeneity was observed across other domains, likely due to the small number of eligible studies. Despite such limitations, results indicate the possibility of sex differences across interoception tasks and domains. Methodological limitations concerning the influence of physiological factors, and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: interoceptive accuracycardiac interoceptionrespiratory interoceptiongastric interoceptionsex differencesmeta-analysis