Abstract
Obesity is a complex and multifaceted medical condition in which an excessive accumulation of body fat has a strong negative impact on health. It results from a composite interplay among biological, psychological, behavioral, and sociocultural factors. Recently, the forefront of theoretical discussion highlighted a possible hitherto underestimated role of sensing the internal physiological states of the body (i.e., interoception) in the development and maintenance of such a disease. Specifically, it has been proposed that a defect to process interoceptive information, and/or to merge it with exteroceptive signals, might be an essential signature of obesity. However, whether, how and to which extent the variety of internal bodily sensations affect the several behavioral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of obesity are still key left open questions. The aim of the project SENSIBLE is twofold: a) Deeply investigating at both functional and neurocognitive levels the relationship between interoception and some of the key facets of obesity: food perception, implicit attitudes, impulsivity, and emotional eating, and b) defining a comprehensive model of the role of interoception in the multiple aspects and behavioral manifestations of obesity. Within this picture, Unit 1 (UniTN) will study the interactions between interoception and external food cues provided by vision and olfaction. Unit 2 (UniTO) will focus on the role of interoception in implicit attitudes towards body image and food. Unit 3 (IUSS) will investigate the neurofunctional basis of impulsivity and interoception by means of neuroimaging and neuromodulation approaches. Unit 4 (UniBO) will examine how interoceptive processes and emotional eating interact to regulate eating patterns. By thoroughly merging evidence coming from all the units, SENSIBLE aims at providing innovative reference for experimental clinical practice, paving the way to rehabilitation protocols tailored to individual ability of interoception and specific manifestations of uncontrolled eating.
Results achieved
The SENSIBLE project advanced the investigation of interoception in relation to eating behavior and obesity through the integration of behavioral, psychophysiological, neurocognitive, and ecological methods. Across the different research units, the project examined how bodily signals interact with external food-related information, implicit representations of body and food, impulsive decision-making, emotional regulation, and eating patterns. Overall, the findings support the main theoretical premise of the project: interoception is relevant to several cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions associated with obesity. At the same time, the observed relationships were more heterogeneous and less linear than initially expected. Different components of interoception did not always show uniform associations with eating-related processes, suggesting that interoceptive functioning should be understood as a multidimensional and context-dependent system rather than as a single general ability. The clinical and longitudinal work conducted by Unit 4 at the University of Bologna focused on the relationships between interoception, emotion regulation, emotional eating, and rehabilitation-related outcomes. The study combined standardised psychological assessment with repeated ecological monitoring in order to examine both overall individual profiles and day-to-day variations in eating-related and emotional processes. The collected data were broadly consistent with the project hypotheses, while also indicating substantial individual variability and patterns that were more complex than originally anticipated. These results highlight the value of combining conventional psychometric measures with ecological and longitudinal data. They also indicate that aggregated indicators and raw repeated observations may provide complementary information: the former offer a concise description of general patterns, whereas the latter preserve clinically relevant intra-individual variability. Given the preliminary nature of this work, further studies with larger samples and more intensive monitoring will be required to clarify these associations and their potential relevance for treatment personalisation. Taken together, SENSIBLE provides an integrated framework for understanding how bodily signals, environmental information, emotions, and decision-making contribute to eating behavior. The project establishes a growing framework for future preventive and rehabilitation approaches that are more personalised, process-oriented, and sensitive to individual patterns of interoceptive and emotional functioning.Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Roberto Cattivelli
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari"
Coordinatore:
Università degli Studi di Trento(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 44.660,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
05/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
