Accuracy and awareness of perception: related, yet distinct (commentary on Herbert et al., 2012).

3 The finding of Herbert and colleagues (2012) in the January 4 issue of Biological Psychology sheds interesting new perspectives 5 on the correspondence between homeostatic challenges and accu6 racy of heartbeat perception. One of their conclusions is that 7 changes in autonomic activity, which in their study were induced 8 by short-term fasting, intensify overall Interoceptive Awareness 9 (IAw). Below, it is argued that this conclusion can be somewhat 10 misleading; a more nuanced conclusion and additional directions 11 for future research based on this revised conclusion are proposed. 12 In the article of Herbert and colleagues as well as in numer13 ous other articles, heartbeat perception tasks are considered to 14 be a proxy of IAw. To say that “cardiac IAw [. . .] reflects the sen15 sory accuracy of perceiving one’s own cardiac signals” (p.77, Herbert 16 et al., 2012) is to say that IAw and Interoceptive Accuracy (IAc) are 17 synonymous, whereas in fact they are not. IAc specifically refers 18 to the capability of accurately perceiving changes in homeostatic 19 function. To be aware, means to be cognizant, to be mindful. Thus 20 IAw should be taken to mean the cognizant, mindful perception of 21 bodily signals (given the definition of interoception proposed by 22 Herbert and colleagues). Although IAw can be accompanied by an 23 accurate perception of bodily sensations, such accuracy is not nec24 essarily implied. This distinction between awareness and accuracy 25 is highlighted by a study of Khalsa and colleagues (2008) who found 26 that IAw is increased in meditative practices, but IAc is not. 27 Nevertheless, the idea that IAw and IAc can be used inter28 changeably is widespread, and most prevalent in the heartbeat 29 perception literature (e.g., Stewart et al., 2001; Sturges and Goetsch, 3