PhD UCL

Question 1

What is interoception?

Answer 1

Interoception is broadly defined as the perception and processing of signals that concern the internal state of the body such as heartbeat, thirst, breathing

Question 2

Is interoception different from exteroception and prioprioception?

Answer 2

It can be distinguished from the domains of exteroception (processing of the environment e.g. processing sounds, visual, smells) ) and proprioception (the individual’s perception of their position , movement and orientation of their body in space) as a distinct sensory domain.

Question 3

What is example of proprioception?

Answer 3

For example, when you close your eyes and reach for an object, your proprioceptive system helps you control the movement of your limbs and fingers without needing to see them.

Question 4

4. What is interoceptive awareness (IA)? - (2)

Answer 4

IA is the ability to identify and access signals from within the body

IA is a sub-concept of interoception

Question 5

What are the 3 (+1) dimensions of interoceptive? - (4)

Answer 5

1. Interoceptive accuracy
2. Interoceptive sensibility
3. Interoceptive awareness
   4( interoceptive emotional evluation)

Question 6

What is interoceptive accuracy? (measuring in this PhD)

Answer 6

Refers to how well individuals perceive and recognise their internal bodily signals and is usually measured with a heartbeat detection task

Question 7

What is interoceptive sensibility?

Answer 7

Self-perceived tendency to focus on interoceptive stimuli which is usually measured via self-report like body-perception questionnaire e.g., to what extent do you believe you focus on and detect internal bodily sensations?

Question 8

What is interoceptive emotional evaluation?

Answer 8

This fourth dimension refers to emotional evaluation of interoceptive signals in which participants asked how they interpret any bodily sensations occurring  “How anxious have you been when sensing your own heartbeats”

Question 9

6. What did you do in your PSY2018 interoception module? - (5)

Answer 9

I participated in the ‘The Mind, the Body, the Self Interoception’ module led by Dr. Jessica Komes.

The module focused on the concept of interoception, exploring its dimensions and its connection to self and mental health.

As part of the assessment, I engaged in a unique six-week intervention, aiming to enhance my interoceptive awareness via practicising interoceptive interventions at home and via module workshops .

I measured this awareness using a self-report scale via MAIA before and after the intervention, observing a significant increase.

This module not only laid the groundwork for my current PhD but also fueled my enthusiasm for delving deeper into the study of interoception.

Question 10

7. How did you measure IA in a module?

Answer 10

Assessed it using s (MAIA)

Question 11

What does MAIA stand for?

Answer 11

Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA)

Question 12

More details on the MAIA scale - (2)

Answer 12

The MAIA-2 scale and instructed to indicate how each statement applies to myself in daily life on 6-point Likert scale (0 = never, 5 = always)

It has 8 different subscales labelled as : notcing, not distracting, not worrying, attention regulation, emotional awareness, self regulation, body listening, trusting

Question 13

More details of the PSY2018 module: hypothesizing of emotion regulation - (6)

Answer 13

In the MAIA there are a lot of subscales and it generally measures IA

The module encouraged us to produce hypotheses before we started the intervention not only in our IA but specific dimension of IA the subscale measures that we are personally struggle with and hope to improve with the interoceptive interventions

Emotion regulation is ability to successfully exert control over one’s meotional experiences, emotion evoking situations and this ability requires an awareness of emotional states which in turn is linked with IA.

Individuals with depression have shown to lack emotion regulation and use maladaptive emotion regulation stratgerieis such as depressive rumination because of lack of IA and it can be improved with interoceptive-based interventions

By reading this research, the fact that I had to be aware of my body’s signals to effectively control my emotions intrigued me. At the time I had the tendency of overthinking negative thoughts than listening to my body and unable to control thoughts and meotions.

Therefore, I hypothesised on a subscale of MAIA called self-regulation (ability to regulate distress based on bodily sensations) would increase after attending module embedded intervention which it did.

Question 14

What is depressive rumination?

Answer 14

Depressive rumination is where one dwells on their previous mistakes, regrets and/or shortcomings in life in an attempt to reduce these negative feelings but paradoxically, increases the intensity and persistence of these feelings.

Question 15

What is specific hypotheses of PSY2018 report - (2)

Answer 15

Based on the research presented above that interoceptive-based interventions can increase IA, I will examine whether my personal IA has increased as a result of a six-week embedded intervention within the module as indicated by a baseline and follow up measurement via the MAIA scale.

More specifically, I hypothesise that I will increase my ability to be in control of my distress by paying attention towards my internal bodily signals (i.e., expect my self-regulation score to increase).

Question 16

12. More details of the PSY2018 module: Journal - (2)

Answer 16

Aside from using a self-report scale to measure my interoceptive awareness before the module-embedded intervention and afterward,

I also kept a reflective journal in which I documented if and how I had changes in my interoceptive awareness and wellness every time I practiced an interoceptive intervention.

Question 17

13. What mind-body interventions did you do in PSY2018 module?

Answer 17

I practiced a series of interoceptive interventions such as the mindfulness-based stress reduction body scanning and self-compassion exercise at home and in the workshops.

Question 18

14. What is body scanning exercise?

Answer 18

body scan is relaxation technique which focuses on systematically paying attention to different parts of the body typically from head to toe.

Question 19

15. What is self-compassion exercise?

Answer 19

In this self-compassion exercise, I offer kind words and say something comforting to myself and be understanding to myself

Question 20

16. How did the workshops work in the PSY2018 module?

Answer 20

During the module, we also had weekly in-person workshops that students can attend in which the module leader, Dr Jessica Komes, performed a variety of interoceptive interventions with the class

Question 21

17. Interoceptive research and mental health - (2)

Answer 21

Interoception is critical for psychological mental health as many psychiatric disorders like depression are often accompanied by a lack of IA

Individuals with anorexia nervosa may experience a diminished sensitivity to hunger cues which lead to persistent undereating behaviour and having severe food restrictions and may not respond appropriatelyto their bodily’s signals for need of food.

Question 22

18. Sarah Garfinkel’s work on the PSY2018 module - (2)

Answer 22

Professor Sarah Garfinkel Is one of the leading researchers in field of interoception and the module I attended feature a lot of her research such as research identifying that tjere are three dimensions of interoception: interoceptive sensibility, interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive awareness

Her research also highlights that interoceptive plays a role in how we potentially respond to threatening stimuli In environment as fearful faces presented during systole were perceived more fearful than it being presented in diastole and corresponded with higher activity in systole and diastole.

Question 23

19. What were the results you found in your interoceptive report? - (2)

Answer 23

I found that after the six-week intervention, my overall interoceptive awareness score (MAIA) increased (overall mean from 2.41 to 3.62)
I had also found that my self-regulation score increased (mean self-regulation score from 1.00 to 4.75) as I was able to regulate feelings of anxiety through my breathing during my home practices.

Question 24

20. What was your conclusion of your lab report?

Answer 24

In conclusion, my ability to control distressful thoughts and emotion by focusing upon my internal bodily signals has increased as a result of the module embedded interventions

Question 25

21. What is mind-body interventions?

Answer 25

Mind-body interventions refer to a diverse group of practices that aim to promote health and well-being by integrating the mind and body

Question 26

22. What is a recent interoceptive paper you find interesting/What is some of the papers you read from Kilner that you found interesting?

• Active tactile discrimination is coupled with and modulated by the cardiac cycle (2022): - (7)

Answer 26

o The study investigates the link between the heart’s rhythmic cycle and the ability to discriminate different tactile stimuli.

o The participants performed a tactile grating orientation task while their electrocardiograms were recorded.

o The task involved participants touching gratings one per trial with their index finger to determine whether the grating was horizontal or vertical

 7 levels of difficulty of the task were manipulated using the width of the grating

o The results showed when participants initiated their touches of the grating during the systole phase when the heart is pumping blood, they were held for longer as compared to touches initiated during diastole when the heart is refilling with blood.

 The effect was most pronounced when participants increased their duration of touches to sense the most difficult gratings.

o The findings showed that individuals have more perceptual sensitivity in systole and spend more time sensing in that phase as compared to diastole.

Question 27

23. Why do you want to study interoception at PhD level? - (7)

Answer 27

I am quite eager to study interoception at PhD as it stems from my personal as well as academic experiences with interoception.

Personally, when I was about 15 years of age I went through an extremely stressful situation causing me having extreme social anxiety where I would not leave the house as much.

My parents are trained in yoga and meditation and encouraged me to try it as I tried every possible solution and after having meditated regularly and doing simple breathing exercises ever since improved my social and inter-personal skills and made me a more confidence person.

It amazed me how simple breathing improves awareness of internal bodily signals and makes me more confident

Academically, I have also developed a passion for interoception as read through a couple of papers of Professor Kilner that I found very intriguing that different phases of heart rate affects individual’s perceptual sensitivity.

During the second year of undergraduate degree, I attended a module on interoception ‘The body , the mind and self interoception’ in which I learned its dimensions, its relation to mental health

. With this PhD I want to contribute to unanswered questions in this field as well as understand how its implemented at brain level, since I am doing a masters in neuroscience, which can be achieved with this PhD

Question 28

Why I want to do a PhD specifically?

Answer 28

Personally, I have been driven to pursue a PhD by my personal belief of my love of learning and continually learning new stuff every day and this commitment I have to learn is reason why I want to delve into advanced academic pursuits and become an expert in a specific field of research.

Question 29

25. What is your research experience? - (4)

Answer 29

I had the opportunity to gain some useful research experiences by working in different laboratories. In my current master’s degree, I am assisting on a project ‘Neural Basis of Familiar Face Recognition’ headed by Prof Tim Andrews at York Neuroimaging Centre.

In this project, my responsibilities include acting as a ‘second coder’ to ensure the reliability and consistency of participants’ behavioural responses and assisting a PhD student in fMRI data analysis using FSL. During my bachelor’s degree, I worked as a junior research assistant for Dr Nicole Adams-Quackenbush in the Research on Investigate, Interviewing, Policing & Law (RIIPL) laboratory for a year at Newcastle University.

I had the responsibility of conducting literature searches through Web of Science and Google Scholar as well as doing in-person interviews for a research project.

These experiences have provided me with teamwork skills and hands-on experience of working in a laboratory which is required for a successful PhD project.

Question 30

26. Why do you want to do a PhD at UCL? - (2)

Answer 30

I am specifically eager in applying to do a neuroscience PhD at University College London (UCL) due to many range of compelling factors as it is one of the top universities in world for neuroscience, recently won ‘University of the Year 2024’, its 2nd in the UK for its world-leading research, has many experts in the field of neuroscience especially interoception as well as world-class neuroimaging facilities in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Neuroimagning

I have also not encountered a university that has a research group that has expertise in interoception which UCL offers and a research interest I want to devlve into deeper.

Question 31

27. Why do you want to work with Professor Kilner? - (3)

Answer 31

Working with Prfessor Kilner greatly appeals to me due to this expertise in the field of interoception which closely aligns with my research interests. Working closely with Professor Kilner is an invalueable opportunity to enhance my research skills and gain deeper understanding of complexities of interoception.

Professor Kilner has demonstrated significant support in my academic journey so far and been very encouraging and supportive.

Additionally, being part of Professor Kilner’s research group/lab offers avenues for collaboration with other experts and researchers in their field providing a platform to contribute meaningful advancements in field of interoceptive research.

Question 32

28. What do you see yourself in 5/10 years/What is your career aspirations? - (4)

Answer 32

In the next five years, I envision myself having completed a PhD gaining expertise in interoception and working a research lab doing my independent research in this relevant field.

My long-term plan is utilising the knowledge and expertise I have gained from my PhD in interoception in UCL is to make a career in research in a laboratory and teaching in a University in the UK or USA.

In the next 10 years I hope to after completing this PhD at UCL, hopefully, to continue my academic career in UCL.

This PhD program will be a foundation for this aspiration

Question 33

29. What skills and attributes do you have that make you a suitable PhD candidate?/ What makes you a qualified candidate? - (7)

Answer 33

I am well-prepared for this PhD in interoception, having gained foundational knowledge through an undergraduate module with Dr. Jessica Komes.

The module, ‘The Mind, the Body, the Self-Interoception,’ provided insights into interoception’s dimensions and its connection to self and mental health

My M.Sc. in Cognitive Neuroscience focused on EEG methodology, covering theoretical principles, electrode setup, preprocessing, and analyses in the first semester.

The upcoming semester will include hands-on experience with Mne Python for EEG data analysis.

These experiences equip me with the necessary skills for investigating interpersonal cardiac synchronization mechanisms at the brain level in my PhD using EEG.

I am currently working on a project ‘Neural basis of familiar face recognition’ which is especially relevant to the current PhD program given the objective to determine which visual features of the face could be relevant for individual’s ability to estimate one’s heart rate

Furthermore, my extensive research in various laboratories has honed my teamwork skills and provided hands-on experience, essential for a successful PhD project. Additionally, my proficiency in Matlab and fluency in R, commonly used in neuroscience, further contribute to my qualifications.

Question 34

30. What is your strengths and weaknesses? - (4)

Answer 34

My strengths is thatI have excellent time management skills and team working skills as during second year of working as a junior research assistant in my undergraduate degree at Newcastle I had to complete my supervisor’s tasks such as completing literature searches via Google Scholar as well as conduct in-person interviews by working together with senior and junior research assistant before the deadlines as well as completing my university studies alongside it and achieve first class marks in many modules.

I also have strong technical skills. During my academic career, I have completed a range of statistical modules where I gained the knowledge of how to complete core statistical tests using SPSS as well as advanced statistical tests in R as well as utilising MATLAB, which I have current working knowledge at, during my final dissertation project.

My weakness is that my proficiency in Matlab is a bit weak and it is tool that is commonly utilised in neuroscience research, aside from Python,.

I am committed to stay up to date and soon become fluent in this software by taking up a work to expand my technical skills and add another tool in my statistical toolbox that I can utilise and having a range of tools to do statistical analysis is key for achieving my career in becoming a neuroscience researcher.

Question 35

31. What is your title of proposal?

Answer 35

Mechanisms of Interpersonal Cardiac Synchronization

Question 36

32. Large majority of research in interoceptive focused on individual person and question of - (2)

Answer 36

whether and how individualistic interoceptive states could affect interoceptive states of others in a social group remains largely unaddressed.

To address this, a growing body of research in the field of interoception, have investigated the conditions under which interoceptive signals become synchronised between individuals

Question 37

33. How has research shown that interoceptive states affect interoceptive states others

a growing body of research in the field of interoception, have investigated the conditions under which interoceptive signals become synchronised between individuals –> Arslanvoa

Answer 37

Recent research by Arslanova et al., (2022) have found that participants viewing 10 second video of two faces of actors with neutral expression with colour square that blinked in sync of heart rate and other trials static and participants task was to identify which face matched blinking rhythm of square, they were able to do it above chance and infer heart rate of person

Question 38

34. How has research shown that interoceptive states affect interoceptive states of others – To address this, a growing body of research in the field of interoception, have investigated the conditions under which interoceptive signals become synchronised between individuals  emotions and behaviour coordination - (2)

Answer 38

In a study by Fusaroli et al., (2016), research is that agents who are coordinating their behaviours and sharing emotions are more likely to share cardiac dynamics

Shared HR patterns emerged in all conditions, but were more stable and synchronized in collective pairs compared to individual or control conditions. Increased speech synchrony and coordinated building actions within pairs predicted stronger shared HR.

Question 39

35. What is gap in research? - (5)

Answer 39

Although there has been a marked increase in the study of interoception, the focus of research mostly has been individual person. The question of whether and how individualistic interoceptive states could affect the interoceptive states of others in a social group remains largely unaddressed

Research addressed and shown interoceptive signals become synchronised between individuals and agents who coordinate their behaviour and share emotions share cardiac dynamics,

The underlying mechanism of such a process remains unclear.

Galvez Pol et al 2022 paper that also featured Professor Kilner displayed videos of two actors side by side with a square in the middle square beating and participants had forced- choice task in which they decided what beating square corresponded to what actor. The participants were able to do it above chance and performance decreases when visual properities of face was altered e.g., inverted as well as when actor videos were replaced with shapes. Thus showing that individuals use faces to infer the internal states of other people which may facilitate social interactions such as knowing someone’s heart rate provide insights into emotional state and serve a non-verbal cue to provide someone empathy or support

However, precisely what visual signals they are using to predict another’s heart rate is unknown

Question 40

36. What is the aim of your proposal and methods? - (3)

Answer 40

The proposed Ph.D. research aims to develop and test mechanisms by which cardiac signals could become coupled between individuals and what visual signals I (e.g., visible pulsations ) individuals use to infer someone’s heart rate.

In particular, the proposed research will focus on whether coupling could be driven by either by viewing the face and perceiving another heart rhythm beat by beat individually or whether you are giving like a gross estimation of their heart rate over a period of lets say 2 minutes and guess its like 60 beats per minute.

Also seeing how the capability of estimating ones heart rhythm depends on relationship whether they are close with the individual or a stranger, the emotional state so if other person’s heart beat they are estimating whether they are anxious or depressed and whether estimation becomes better or worse, as well as estimation of one’s heart rate influenced by prior expectations of heart rate

Question 41

37. Explain prior expectations of heart rate?

Answer 41

always work with heart rate as typically 60 beats per minute, so prior expectation is always have expectency as average persons heart rate is 60 beats per minute even if someone is not in front of me and prior guess people who are healthier have lower heart beat like athletes ,

Question 42

38. What is your method of your proposal?

Answer 42

The research will employ a series of behavioural tasks as well as eye tracking and monitoring of participants cardiac and neurophysiological signals recorded with ECG and EEG respectively.

Question 43

40. What is the practical applications of PhD?

Answer 43

Develop interventions for individuals with conditions such as anxiety or stress by creating tools that use facial cues to monitor and manage heart rate, providing real-time feedback for relaxation techniques

Question 44

41. Why are you adding EEG and eye-tracking to this research? - (2)

Answer 44

Combining eye tracking with EEG provides a temporally precise understanding of attentional dynamics. EEG can reveal neural signatures associated with shifts in attention, helping identify the time course of cognitive processes involved in estimating heart rate.

This is particularly valuable when investigating how attention to specific facial cues evolves over time, especially in the presence of familiarity.

Question 45

42. Why is Tim’s research useful for this PhD?

Answer 45

I am currently working on a project ‘Neural basis of familiar face recognition’ which is especially relevant to the current PhD program given the objective to determine which visual features of the face could be relevant for heart rate detection.

Question 46

4. Can you tell us in simple terms about a research project that you have been involved in – what were you investigating and what did you find? - (6)

Answer 46

My final dissertation project at Newcastle University was called ‘Prediction of
Speech-In-Noise Performance Using Non-Speech Stimuli’ under the supervision of
Professor Tim Griffiths.

Speech-in-noise perception is basically how well people can hear speech in
background noise. For example, in a pub how well we can hear a friend wile lot of people are talking in the background (This is also called the cocktail party effect).

Now the question how to measure the speech-in -noise performance? The typical
test use a sample of speech (like a word or sentence) within noise added to it. The
task is to recognize the word/sentence.

The speech content is typically recorded in specific language (e.g. English) and thus
the tests can not be used with participants who are not fluent in that language.

To address this limitation a non-speech stimulus called Figure-Ground was
developed. This stimulus consisted of a pattern of coherent tones , which is the
figure a background of non-coherent tones. After hearing two figure-ground stimuli,
participants were asked if the two patterns were same or different.

We then investigated if the performance on the Figure-Ground stimulus was
correlated with performance on conventional speech -in-noise test. We found that
that this was indeed the case. (Typical correlations around 0.4)

Question 47

5. What were the correlation values you find in new test and how did it compare to old tests? - (3)

Answer 47

• We measured speech-in-noise using both sentence and word in noise and a typically hearing test called pure-tone
• Figure-ground between sentence was 0.40 and word was 0.38
• Did regression showing figure-ground significantly added 10-20% of variance explained in sentence and word in noise tests more than PTA

Question 48

What is advantages and practical application of dissertation study? - (2)

Answer 48

• Auditory processing disorder is charactercised by speech in noise difficulty and used as a test than convential speech in noise
• Used for children who do not possess adult level language proficiency, biliuginal and individuals who are non-native speakers

Question 49

7. What is figure-ground? - (2)

Answer 49

The SFG stimulus consists of a set of tones of varying frequencies that change randomly and a specific subset of tones that remains the same over time.

The fixed frequencies are perceived as the auditory target amidst the ‘background’ of random variation of frequencies

Question 50

8. What is limitations of dissertation? - (5)

Answer 50

There are some limitations of the study.

The study only considered individuals with “normal” hearing thresholds and native English speakers.

Therefore our results are not extendable to those have hearing deficits and/or not native English speakers.

The performance of the roving stimulus, in terms of predicting SiN performance, needs to be evaluated on these populations.

The criteria of including only “normal” hearing thresholds participants also led to a exclusion of a large number (10/74) of participants from the data analysis

Question 51

9. What is figure like in same or different pattern in figure-ground? - (2)

Answer 51

• Figure is same in same pattern
• Figure is different to one another in different pattern

Question 52

40. What is the practical applications of PhD?

Answer 52

Develop interventions for individuals with conditions such as anxiety or stress by creating tools that use facial cues to monitor and manage heart rate, providing real-time feedback for relaxation techniques

Question 53

41. Why are you adding EEG and eye-tracking to this research? - (2)

Answer 53

Combining eye tracking with EEG provides a temporally precise understanding of attentional dynamics. EEG can reveal neural signatures associated with shifts in attention, helping identify the time course of cognitive processes involved in estimating heart rate.

This is particularly valuable when investigating how attention to specific facial cues evolves over time, especially in the presence of familiarity.

Question 54

when you perceive their heart beat your heartbeat

Answer 54

gets synchronised to heart beat you are seeing.

Question 55

What is issue you are addressing with PhD?

Answer 55

Although there has been a marked increase in the study of interoception, the focus of research mostly has been individual person.

The question of whether and how individualistic interoceptive states could affect interoceptive states of others in a social group remains largely unaddressed
Research has shown that individuals perceive individuals heart rate their heart rate gets synchronised and individuals can estimate other’s heart rate by chance.

To address this, a growing body of research in the field of interoception, have investigated the conditions under which interoceptive signals become synchronised between individuals (Arslanova et al., 2022; Balconi and Angioletti, 2023).

A key result of this research is that agents who are coordinating their behaviours and sharing emotions are more likely to share cardiac dynamics (Fusaroli et al., 2016).

However, despite the interest in the role of coupled cardiac dynamics between individuals in positive social interactions, the underlying mechanism of such process remains unclear.

The aim of the proposed PhD research is to develop and test mechanisms by which cardiac signals could become coupled between individuals.

In particular, the proposed research will focus on whether coupling could be driven by either perception of the other person’s heartbeat or the estimate of the other person’s heart rate.

Recently, it was demonstrated (Galvez-Pol et al., 2022) that when you look at a video of the face of another person you are able to correctly estimate the heart rate of that person above chance levels.

This finding is consistent with the idea that we are able to infer the internal states of other people and that this might facilitate social interactions.

However, precisely which visual signals people use to perform this task are not known