Andrea Campbell

This is a fascinating article. It really helps me understand what is going on with my body. I have very strong reactions to changes in my body. Any new sensation however minor I sense. But, my baseline bodily presence is not there. I don't sense my body and can get lost quite easily in thought. I also have a very high pain threshold for deep tissue massage and nothing feels more amazing than a deep tissue massage but had to have them stop an electrical nerve conduction study. Does anyone else have this experience? I read this on an LM: Many researchers describe this as punctate awareness: the interoceptive system lights up strongly for changes but quiets down when the signal is stable. People with aphantasia or low imagery often show this pattern because imagery, self-location, and interoception share overlapping networks in the insula and default-mode system. When one channel is atypical, the others often develop asymmetrically. There’s even evidence that some individuals with aphantasia have normal or above-normal interoceptive reactivity but reduced embodiment (ongoing sense of inhabiting the body).