An Embodied Cognition Perspective on the Role of Interoception in the Development of the Minimal Self.

Interoception, the sense of the internal state of the body, is a crucial but often overlooked component of the minimal self—the basic sense of being a subject. This perspective extends the embodiment account of interoceptive inference to explain how the minimal self develops in humans. It reviews major theories linking interoception to the minimal self and argues for a bidirectional relationship between motor and interoceptive states that jointly shape this development. The authors present empirical findings on interoception during development and offer testable theoretical predictions, aiming to provide a comprehensive view of the mechanisms underlying the minimal self.

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Abstract

Interoception is an often neglected but crucial aspect of the human minimal self. In this perspective, we extend the embodiment account of interoceptive inference to explain the development of the minimal self in humans. To do so, we first provide a comparative overview of the central accounts addressing the link between interoception and the minimal self. Grounding our arguments on the embodiment framework, we propose a bidirectional relationship between motor and interoceptive states, which jointly contribute to the development of the minimal self. We present empirical findings on interoception in development and discuss the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self. Moreover, we make theoretical predictions that can be tested in future experiments. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive view on the mechanisms underlying the minimal self by explaining the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self.