Estimating the stability of heartbeat counting in middle childhood: A twin study

Jennifer Murphy; Rosa Cheesman; Alice M. Gregory; Jennifer Lau; Anke Ehlers; Caroline Catmur; Geoffrey Bird; Thalia C. Eley

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107764

Estimating the stability of heartbeat counting in middle childhood: A twin study

Jennifer Murphy, Rosa Cheesman, Alice M. Gregory, Jennifer Lau, Anke Ehlers, Caroline Catmur, Geoffrey Bird, Thalia C. Eley^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is growing interest in interoception, the perception of the body's internal state, and its relevance for health across development. Most evidence linking interoception to health has used the heartbeat counting task. However, the temporal stability of the measure, particularly during childhood, and the etiological factors that underlie stability, remain largely unexamined. Using data from the ECHO twin sample we estimated the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on the stability of heartbeat counting across two years (age 8–10), the longest time-frame examined. Heartbeat counting accuracy was modestly correlated across time, (r =.35) and accuracy improved with age. Non-shared environmental factors accounted for the most variance at both time points and were the main contributors to temporal stability of heartbeat counting. Future research should seek to identify these non-shared environmental factors and elucidate whether this relatively modest stability reflects variability of interoception across development or unreliability of the heartbeat counting task.

Original language	English
Article number	107764
Journal	Biological Psychology
Volume	148
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107764
Publication status	Published - Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The ECHO study was supported by a Career Development Award from the UK MRC to T. C. Eley ( G120/635 ). T. C. Eley is part-funded by a program grant from the UK Medical Research Council ( MR/M021475/1 ). This study presents independent research part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London . The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. JM and RC are both supported by doctoral studentships from the ESRC . GB was supported by the Baily Thomas Trust . AE is supported by the Wellcome Trust ( 200796 ).

Funding Information:
The ECHO study was supported by a Career Development Award from the UK MRC to T. C. Eley (G120/635). T. C. Eley is part-funded by a program grant from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/M021475/1). This study presents independent research part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. JM and RC are both supported by doctoral studentships from the ESRC. GB was supported by the Baily Thomas Trust. AE is supported by the Wellcome Trust (200796).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors

Keywords

Heartbeat counting
Heritability
Interoception
Interoceptive accuracy
Stability
Twins

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Neuroscience
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology

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10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107764

Cite this

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title = "Estimating the stability of heartbeat counting in middle childhood: A twin study",

abstract = "There is growing interest in interoception, the perception of the body's internal state, and its relevance for health across development. Most evidence linking interoception to health has used the heartbeat counting task. However, the temporal stability of the measure, particularly during childhood, and the etiological factors that underlie stability, remain largely unexamined. Using data from the ECHO twin sample we estimated the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on the stability of heartbeat counting across two years (age 8–10), the longest time-frame examined. Heartbeat counting accuracy was modestly correlated across time, (r =.35) and accuracy improved with age. Non-shared environmental factors accounted for the most variance at both time points and were the main contributors to temporal stability of heartbeat counting. Future research should seek to identify these non-shared environmental factors and elucidate whether this relatively modest stability reflects variability of interoception across development or unreliability of the heartbeat counting task.",

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Estimating the stability of heartbeat counting in middle childhood: A twin study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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