Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42126024›Full record

ArticlePsychophysiology2026

Individual Differences in Heartbeat-Tone Synchronicity Judgments Suggest the Two-Alternative Heartbeat Detection Task Is a Poor Test of Cardiac Interoceptive Accuracy and Insight.

Kiera Louise Adams, Ren Palmer, Jonathan M Bird, David Plans, Adam Cunningham, Davide Morelli, Tom Piercy, Ria Spooner, Rhea Clemente, Nerea Irigoras Izagirre and 10 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Psychophysiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

20 authors.

Kiera Louise AdamsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Ren PalmerDepartment of Psychology, University of Surrey, Surrey, UK.
Jonathan M BirdDepartment of Targeted Intervention, University College London, London, UK.
David PlansDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Adam CunninghamHuma Therapeutics Ltd, London, UK.
Davide MorelliDepartment of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Tom PiercyIndependent Scholar, London, UK.
Ria SpoonerDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Rhea ClementeDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Nerea Irigoras IzagirreDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Elisa Fernandez FueyoDepartment of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Dawn WatlingDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Rebecca BrewerDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Gemma BudworthDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Dorina CocirlaDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Mateo Leganes-FonteneauAddiction Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT)-Lab, Department of Psychology and Center for Urban Mental Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Jennifer ToddSchool of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
Jane E AspellSchool of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
Geoffrey BirdDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Jennifer MurphyDepartment of Psychology, University of Surrey, Surrey, UK.

Funding

Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies pilot grant at Rutgers UniversityESRC South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS) PhD studentship ES/P00072X/1LIDo/BBSRC Studentship BB/T008709/1National Fund for Scientific Research of BelgiumNIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research CentrePain Challenge Research Award from Versus Arthritis 22461Royal Holloway, University of LondonThe Medical Research Council (UKRI) MR/S003509/1University of Oxford Medical Sciences Graduate School Studentship (Clarendon Fund in partnership with the University College Award and the Experimental Psychology Studentship)
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite concerns regarding its validity, the two-alternative forced-choice heartbeat detection task (2AFC-HDT) is a frequently used measure of cardiac interoceptive accuracy. In this task, participants must decide whether a series of tones occur synchronously with their heartbeats. One series of tones is predefined by the researcher as synchronous with heartbeats, and one series is predefined as asynchronous. The 2AFC-HDT may result in individuals judged to be not interoceptive when they are, either if participants perceive their heartbeats as occurring synchronously with tones predefined as asynchronous rather than synchronous with their heartbeats, or if they do not perceive either set of tones as synchronous. Currently, there is little data on the proportion of participants this may affect. We addressed this using data from the Phase Adjustment Task (PAT) - a measure of cardiac interoceptive accuracy that determines if, and when in the cardiac cycle, a participant can perceive their heartbeat. The timing of heartbeat perception in 43 interoceptive participants was compared to the timing of synchronous and asynchronous tones used in the 2AFC-HDT, assuming temporal precision of 50, 100, and 150 ms. Results suggest that between 53.5%-97.7% of delay-based interoceptive individuals perceive heartbeats at a delay that does not correspond to the typical asynchronous or synchronous delays used to present tones on the 2AFC-HDT. These issues suggest that the 2AFC-HDT (or other measures that make assumptions about perceived timing of heartbeats) should not be used to measure cardiac interoceptive accuracy, or cardiac interoceptive insight (also known as awareness or metacognition).

Indexed as

Auditory PerceptionHeart RateIndividualityInteroceptionJudgmentAdultFemaleHumansMaleYoung AdultcardioceptionHDTheartbeat detection taskInteroceptioninteroceptive accuracyinteroceptive insight

Identifiers

PMID42126024
PMCPMC13170068

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.