Interoceptive impairments do not lie at the heart of autism or alexithymia.

ABSTRACT: Quattrocki and Friston (2014) argued that abnormalities in interoception-the process of representing one's internal physiological states-could lie at the heart of autism, because of the critical role interoception plays in the ontogeny of social-affective processes. This proposal drew criticism from proponents of the alexithymia hypothesis, who argue that social-affective and underlying interoceptive impairments are not a feature of autism per se, but of alexithymia (a condition characterized by difficulties describing and identifying one's own emotions), which commonly co-occurs with autism. Despite the importance of this debate for our understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and of the role of interoceptive impairments in psychopathology, more generally, direct empirical evidenc

SUBMITTER: Nicholson TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6089261 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature