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Heartbeat Perception and its Association with The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness

Leiter-McBeth, Justin Rashawn, Leiter
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1462969942

Abstract Details

2016, BS, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences.
Interoceptive awareness (IA), or the perception of visceral signals, plays a crucial role in healthy cognitive and affective functioning. For example, accurate perception of visceral signals has been linked to a greater ability to regulate emotions, positive reevaluation of body signals, as well as the ability to make better decisions. Traditionally, IA has been viewed as a unitary construct measured by heartbeat tracking tasks, during which individuals are asked to silently count and report the number of heart beats they experience. However, recent research suggests that there may be subtle differences in aspects of body awareness, including the way in which an individual perceives or relates to his or her own body signals. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), a recently developed self-report measure, is designed to capture such differences. Although the MAIA performed well when compared to other questionnaires designed to measure body awareness and showed adequate internal consistency (a = 0.65), research has yet to examine the relationship between the MAIA and behavioral measures of IA, such as the widely used heartbeat tracking task. Additionally, research has yet to examine how the heartbeat tracking task and MAIA differentially relate to measures of psychopathology. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the MAIA and the heartbeat perception task, and their relationship to other measures of body awareness and psychopathology. Overall, measurements of reliability for the MAIA scales ranged from a = .52 to a = .89, and performance on the heartbeat perception task evidenced previously reported associations with measures of anxiety and depression symptoms. However, correlational analyses did not reveal a significant association between the MAIA and the heartbeat perception task. Furthermore, the MAIA scales (except the scales non-distracting and not-worrying) evidenced significant associations (r = .36 to .44) with the Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ), whereas the heartbeat perception task, unexpectedly, did not demonstrate a significant association with the BAQ. However, the heartbeat perception task did correlate significantly with measures of depression and anxiety, while only certain subscales of the MAIA were significantly associated with measures of psychopathology. The results suggest that the MAIA and the heartbeat perception task may be assessing distinct or unrelated aspects of body awareness, which are in turn, differentially related to indicators of psychopathology.
David Fresco, Dr. (Advisor)
Counseling Psychology; Psychology
Interoceptive Awareness, Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, MAIA, IA, Mindfulness, Body Awareness, Convergent Validity, Heartbeat Perception, Self-report

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Leiter-McBeth, Leiter, J. R. (2016). Heartbeat Perception and its Association with The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness [Undergraduate thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1462969942

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Leiter-McBeth, Leiter, Justin. Heartbeat Perception and its Association with The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness . 2016. Kent State University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1462969942.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Leiter-McBeth, Leiter, Justin. "Heartbeat Perception and its Association with The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness ." Undergraduate thesis, Kent State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1462969942

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University Honors College and OhioLINK.