Interoception

Interoreception (from Latin interior - internal and Latin receptio - perception) is the body’s ability to perceive internal stimuli emanating from its own internal organs and tissues.

Interoreceptors are located in the walls of hollow internal organs (stomach, intestines, bladder) and in tissues (vascular smooth muscles, cardiac muscle). They transmit information about the state of internal organs to the central nervous system.

Receptors located in the walls of organs transmit information in the form of sensations of pressure, stretching, and vibration. Information about the activity of smooth muscles (contraction or relaxation of blood vessels, intestines) enters the brain via sensory fibers innervated by the vagus nerve.

Somatic interoception provides information about the position of the body in space, its movement, orientation in space and time.

Vegetative interoceptive information ensures the regulation of the activity of internal organs, maintaining the constancy of the internal environment of the body.