Under the surface: Low cardiac vagal tone and poor interoception in young adults with subclinical depressive symptoms

Introduction: Depressive symptoms are associated with alterations in central and autonomic nervous system activity, including misperception of bodily activity (e.g., low interoception), somatic symptoms and decreased vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV). However, there is a lack of studies that examine both perception of bodily activity and autonomic function in depression. The present study investigated the association between interoception, vmHRV, and subclinical depressive symptoms. Method: Eighty-eight students were enrolled and vmHRV was calculated from a 5-minute resting electrocardiogram. Interoceptive accuracy (heartbeat tracking task; heartbeat discrimination task), interoceptive sensibility (Body Perception Questionnaire), and depressive symptoms (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items) were assessed. Results: Interoceptive accuracy and sensibility positively correlated with vmHRV and negatively correlates with depressive symptoms. Cluster analysis perform...