Using bodily postures to reduce anxiety and improve interoception: A comparison between powerful and neutral poses.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown that anxiety syndromes are highly prevalent among university students. Effective treatments are needed to reduce the burden of anxiety in this population. Powerful postures have been found to impact affective states, as well as interoception (i.e. the ability to perceive inner bodily signals). However, no previous study has compared the effects of powerful- and neutral postures in regards to anxiety and interoceptive ability. METHODS: The first part of the study measured the single-session effect of adopting powerful- vs. neutral postures on students' (n = 57) interoceptive ability and state anxiety. The second part of the study measured the effect of adopting powerful or neutral postures twice daily for two weeks, on individuals' interoceptive ability and trait anxiety. RESULTS: State anxiety decreased in both conditions whereas interoceptive accuracy only increased in the power posing condition after a single session. Interoceptive accuracy increased in both groups after two weeks of training. LIMITATIONS: The study included no comparison to a condition where individuals adopted their natural (i.e. usual) bodily posture. CONCLUSIONS: Embodiment interventions that include elements of adopting an open or expansive bodily posture whilst maintaining a self-focus, can help to reduce state anxiety and improve interoceptive accuracy in student populations. Power posing does not seem to be superior to holding a neutral posture to improve interoceptive accuracy or anxiety. One reason therefore could be that both conditions include the manipulation of self-focus and a postural change that diverges from individuals' normal posture.

Improving interoceptive ability through the practice of power posing: A pilot study.

Interoception refers to the detection and perception of signals from the inner body. Deficits in this domain have been linked to psychopathologies, prompting the search for strategies to improve this ability. Preliminary studies have shown that interoception could be enhanced through the manipulation of subjective feelings of power. We tested the effects of adopting powerful postures on different facets of interoception. Firstly, we measured the impact of a single power posing session on interoceptive ability in 41 healthy females. Then, the same participants were randomly assigned to two conditions (daily power posing practice vs. no practice). After one week the conditions alternated. Interoceptive accuracy, measured by the heartbeat tracking task, interoceptive sensibility, measured by the Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ) and confidence ratings, as well as subjective feelings of power were assessed at baseline, after a single power posing session and after one week of training. A single power posing session significantly increased individuals' interoceptive accuracy. Also, power posing reduced individuals' scores on the BPQ after one week of daily practice and increased subjective feelings of power after one session and one week of daily practice. These findings suggest that adopting powerful postures has the potential to increase interoceptive accuracy, as well as subjective feelings of power, and to reduce interoceptive sensibility, measured by questionnaire.

Scared to Trust? - Predicting Trust in Highly Automated Driving by Depressiveness, Negative Self-Evaluations and State Anxiety.

The advantages of automated driving can only come fully into play if these systems are used in an appropriate way, which means that they are neither used in situations they are not designed for (misuse) nor used in a too restricted manner (disuse). Trust in automation has been found to be an essential psychological basis for appropriate interaction with automated systems. Well-balanced system use requires a calibrated level of trust in correspondence with the actual ability of an automated system. As for these far-reaching implications of trust for safe and efficient system use, the psychological processes, in which trust is dynamically calibrated prior and during the use of automated technology, need to be understood. At this point, only a restricted body of research investigated the role of personality and emotional states for the formation of trust in automated systems. In this research, the role of the personality variables depressiveness, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and locus of control for the experience of anxiety before the first experience with a highly automated driving system were investigated. Additionally, the relationship of the investigated personality variables and anxiety to subsequent formation of trust in automation was investigated. In a driving simulator study, personality variables and anxiety were measured before the interaction with an automated system. Trust in the system was measured after participants drove with the system for a while. Trust in the system was significantly predicted by state anxiety and the personality characteristics self-esteem and self-efficacy. The relationships of self-esteem and self-efficacy were mediated by state anxiety as supported by significant specific indirect effects. While for depression the direct relationship with trust in automation was not found to be significant, an indirect effect through the experience of anxiety was supported. Locus of control did not show a significant association to trust in automation. The reported findings support the importance of considering individual differences in negative self-evaluations and anxiety when being introduced to a new automated system for individual differences in trust in automation. Implications for future research as well as implications for the design of automated technology in general and automated driving systems are discussed.

Improvement of Interoceptive Processes after an 8-Week Body Scan Intervention.

Objective: Interoceptive processes are defined as ability to detect sensations arising within the body. There is a growing body of research investigating ways of improving interoceptive processes. One promising approach increasing the attention to bodily sensations is the body scan (BS), a method stemming from mindfulness-based stress reduction. Research so far revealed only heterogenous findings of meditational practice and mindfulness-based stress reduction on interoceptive processes. Even more importantly, there is no study considering the effect of an 8-week BS intervention on interoceptive processes and the distinguishable subdomains of interoception. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to examine the effects of a BS intervention on different interoceptive subdomains over 8 weeks of training in two different samples. Methods: In study 1, healthy participants executed a 20 min standardized audiotaped BS in the BS intervention group (n = 25) each day over 8 weeks. The control group (n = 24) listened to an audio book for the same amount of time. In study 2, the BS group (n = 18) was compared to an inactive control group (n = 18). In both studies, three measurement points were realized and interoceptive accuracy (IAc) - using a heartbeat perception task - as well as interoceptive sensibility (IS) - using confidence ratings for the heartbeat perception task and the subscale 'interoceptive awareness' of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) - were assessed. Results: In study 1, we found, as a descriptive trend, IAc and confidence ratings to be increased irrespective of the condition. However, post hoc analysis revealed a significant improvement of IAc between T1 and T3 in the BS intervention only. IS revealed to be unaffected by the interventions. In study 2, we observed a significant positive effect of the BS intervention on IAc and confidence ratings compared to the inactive controls. As in study 1, IS (EDI-2) was unaffected by the intervention. Discussion: The results highlight the fact that interoception can be improved by long-term interventions focusing on bodily signals. Further studies might focus on clinical samples showing deficits in interoceptive processes and could use other bodily systems for measurement (e.g., respiratory signals) as well methods manipulating body ownership.