Key result
Higher caregiver-reported interoception is linked to faster post-exercise heart rate recovery in preschoolers.
Why the study?
Does caregiver-reported trait-level interoceptive capacity associate with state-level perceptual-physiological alignment and post-activity heart rate recovery in typically developing preschool children?
Cross-Sectional (n=38)
No
Does caregiver-reported trait-level interoceptive capacity associate with state-level perceptual-physiological alignment and post-activity heart rate recovery in typically developing preschool children?
In preschool children, higher caregiver-reported trait interoceptive capacity is associated with better perceptual–physiological cardiac alignment and a closer return of heart rate toward baseline following brief physical exertion.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May link trait interoception to autonomic recovery in preschoolers; hypothesis-generating and requires longitudinal validation before any clinical consideration.
Interoception plays an important role in self-regulation and embodied development, yet how relatively stable interoceptive capacities relate to momentary physiological responses in early childhood remains unclear. Recent perspectives distinguish between trait-level interoceptive capacity and state-level interoceptive processing. This study aimed to examine the relationships between trait-level interoceptive capacity, state-level responses, and post-activity physiological change in preschool children. Interoceptive functioning was examined in 38 typically developing preschool children aged 3–5 years. Trait-level capacity was assessed using the Dynamic Metacognitive Interoception Measure (DMIM). State-level responses were elicited using a brief Jumping Jack Paradigm, with heart rate recorded via smartphone-based photoplethysmography at baseline, post-activity, and recovery. Perceptual–physiological alignment was indexed as the discrepancy between perceived and physiological cardiac change, and post-activity physiological change was indexed by the recovery-to-baseline difference (T2 − T0). Repeated-measures analysis of variance, correlation analyses, and hierarchical regression analyses were used. Heart rate increased after activity and then partly returned toward baseline, F (2, 74) = 72.18, p < .001. DMIM total scores were not associated with heart rate reactivity (ΔHR), but were associated with lower recovery-to-baseline difference values (β = −0.32, p = .031) and lower perceptual–physiological discrepancy. Exploratory analyses indicated that Interoceptive Attention was associated with both the recovery-to-baseline difference and perceptual–physiological discrepancy, whereas Interoceptive Discrimination was associated with the recovery-to-baseline difference. Higher perceptual–physiological discrepancy was associated with higher recovery-to-baseline difference values. These findings suggest that interoceptive functioning in early childhood can be examined within a trait–state framework, with post-activity heart-rate differences providing an exploratory indicator of physiological change following activation.
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Cangi et al. (2026) conducted a cross-sectional in Typically developing preschool children (interoceptive functioning and cardiac recovery) (n=38). Trait-level interoceptive capacity (Dynamic Metacognitive Interoception Measure [DMIM]) and Jumping Jack Paradigm vs. Baseline and continuous variation across DMIM scores was evaluated on Post-activity heart rate recovery-to-baseline difference (T2 - T0) (β = -0.32, p=0.031). Higher caregiver-reported trait interoceptive capacity (DMIM total score) was associated with lower post-exercise heart rate recovery-to-baseline differences (β = -0.32, p = 0.031) in preschoolers.
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