A new study at the California National Primate Research Center shows that rhesus macaques can perceive their own heartbeat. This ability to be aware of internal states is called interoception. Deficits in interception can occur in neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease. The discovery could lead to new ways to study such diseases. (Graphic by Matthew Valdolivo/UC Davis Academic Technology Services)
A new study at the California National Primate Research Center shows that rhesus macaques can perceive their own heartbeat. This ability to be aware of internal states is called interoception. Deficits in interoception can occur in neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease. The discovery could lead to new ways to study such diseases. (Graphic by Matthew Valdolivo/UC Davis Academic Technology Services)

Rhesus Monkeys Can Perceive Their Own Heartbeat

Potential Model for New Studies of Depression, Anxiety, Alzheimer’s Disease

  • by Messiah Folashade Foster

Rhesus macaques are able to perceive their own heartbeats, according to a new study from the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, and Royal Holloway, University of London. The research, published April 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, creates a first-of-its-kind animal model of interoception. Interoception refers to the ability to sense the internal state of one’s body, such as observing when your heart races or breathing quickens. The findings provide an important model for future psychiatric and neuropsychiatric research as dysfunctions in interoception are associated with anxiety, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. 

The study is part of a collaboration between Eliza Bliss-Moreau, associate professor of psychology at UC Davis and core scientist at the CNPRC, and affective scientist Manos Tsakiris, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, led by Joey Charbonneau, doctoral student in the Neuroscience Graduate Group at UC Davis, and including Lara Maister, from Bangor University, Wales. 

Read the rest of this article at UC Davis News.

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Psychology Animal Behavior College of Letters and Science California National Primate Research Center Neuroscience Interoception