Predicting the consequences of physical activity: An investigation into the relationship between anxiety sensitivity, interoceptive accuracy and action

The ability to predict the consequences of our actions is imperative for the everyday success of our interactions. From negotiating an uneven surface, to mounting an immune response, we continually infer the limits of our body. The current investigation considered the impact that the inferred consequences of action has on the placement of limits. We hypothesised that the performance of individuals in a novel, sprint task would reflect both their ability to accurately detect changes in bodily arousal (Interoceptive Accuracy) and the inferred consequences associated with heightened arousal signals (Anxiety Sensitivity). We found that individuals who demonstrated accuracy associated with physiological arousal changes, and who showed a heightened fear of the consequences of arousal symptoms, modified their actions by decreasing their power output (mean Watts•kg(-1)) in a sprint task (ΔR(2) = 0.19; F(1,34) = 19.87); p<0.001). These findings provide a basis for understanding the varying actions taken as we encounter bodily perturbation.