Exploring Individual Differences in Interoception Among Athletes Based on a Three-Dimensional Construct of Interoception
Renjie Zeng
School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorHaoran Shen
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Methodology
Search for more papers by this authorYaping He
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology
Search for more papers by this authorLi-Kun Ge
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology
Search for more papers by this authorDaliang Zhao
Guangzhou Ersha Sports Training Center, Guangzhou, China
Contribution: Resources
Search for more papers by this authorShijie Zhu
Guangzhou Ersha Sports Training Center, Guangzhou, China
Contribution: Data curation, Resources
Search for more papers by this authorLi Cai
Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
Contribution: Resources
Search for more papers by this authorYu Wang
School of Education and Psychology, Tianjin University of Sport, Tianjing, China
Search for more papers by this authorWolf E. Mehling
Osher Center for Integrative Health, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Contribution: Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Gao-Xia Wei
School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Correspondence:
Gao-Xia Wei ([email protected])
Contribution: Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorRenjie Zeng
School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorHaoran Shen
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Methodology
Search for more papers by this authorYaping He
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology
Search for more papers by this authorLi-Kun Ge
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology
Search for more papers by this authorDaliang Zhao
Guangzhou Ersha Sports Training Center, Guangzhou, China
Contribution: Resources
Search for more papers by this authorShijie Zhu
Guangzhou Ersha Sports Training Center, Guangzhou, China
Contribution: Data curation, Resources
Search for more papers by this authorLi Cai
Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
Contribution: Resources
Search for more papers by this authorYu Wang
School of Education and Psychology, Tianjin University of Sport, Tianjing, China
Search for more papers by this authorWolf E. Mehling
Osher Center for Integrative Health, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Contribution: Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Gao-Xia Wei
School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
School of Physical Education and Sport, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Correspondence:
Gao-Xia Wei ([email protected])
Contribution: Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorFunding: This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31671163, No. 32471133) and the STI 2030-Major Projects (No.2021ZD0200500).
ABSTRACT
Previous studies demonstrated that sensorimotor training enhances interoceptive abilities. Athletes are highly engaged in performance-driven physical training and often incorporate—to varying degrees—sensorimotor training into their routines. In this study, we investigated the role of individual differences in interoception by comparing professional athletes of different performance levels and both sexes with recreational athletes and controls, applying a three-dimensional model of interoception. Twenty-six elite athletes, 52 recreational athletes, and 50 college students were recruited from national sports teams, local sports training centers, and local universities. We used the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoperative Awareness (MAIA), the Heartbeat Detecting Task (HDT), and a numeric rating scale based on HDT to measure interoceptive sensibility, accuracy, and awareness. At average, athletes showed significantly higher interoceptive sensibility, interoceptive accuracy, and interoceptive awareness than controls. Elite athletes reported significantly higher scores in all measures of interception compared to recreational athletes. Intriguingly, Non-Distracting for interoceptive sensibility was positively correlated with the level of experience in elite athletes. Male athletes had better interoceptive sensibility and interoceptive awareness compared to female athletes in the elite group, while no significant sex differences were detected in the other two groups. These results indicated that level of sport experience and sex are associated with differences in interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive sensibility, and interoceptive awareness. It also suggests that interoceptive ability is possibly an experience-dependent trait for athletic performance, which provides insight for improving sports performance through an approach of enhancing interoceptive ability.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available. If you have any specific requests or need further information, please feel free to contact the corresponding author.
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