Age-related changes of interoceptive brain networks: Implications for interoception and alexithymia.
Emotion
; 24(6): 1536-1549, 2024 Sep.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38635193
ABSTRACT
Aging is known to be associated with a decline in interoceptive abilities and changes in emotional processing, including alexithymia. As the brain areas supporting interoceptive awareness participate in the perception of emotion, we suggested that interoceptive decline and alexithymia in older adults may share common neural ground. To test this hypothesis, we administered functional magnetic resonance imaging-based heartbeat detection task to 62 adults of diverse ages (range 18-73) and evaluated a larger sample of older and younger adults using questionnaires characterizing interoceptive sensibility, alexithymia, and depressive attitudes. We found that increasing age was linked to decreased activation during the interoceptive task, including the right insular-opercular and supplementary motor areas (SMAs). Age also affected task-based functional connectivity, with two major effects being a decrease in the connectivity of the SMA-insular network and an increase in the connectivity of the prefrontal-lateral occipital network. Path analysis performed for interoceptive accuracy as the endogenous variable revealed that the impact of age was mediated by the functional activation of the insular cortex and SMA and by the connectivity between these areas. Another path analysis using alexithymia as the endogenous variable while controlling for depressive attitudes showed that the effect of age was mediated by interoceptive decline. The study supports the role of central mechanisms in age-related interoceptive decline and shows its implications for alexithymia. Since alexithymia represents a risk factor for mental and cardiovascular diseases, the study findings may open an important direction toward maintaining older adults' well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Envejecimiento
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Imagen por Resonancia Magnética
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Síntomas Afectivos
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Interocepción
Límite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Emotion
Asunto de la revista:
PSICOLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos