Interoception and Brain Disorders

May 1-8, 2027 

Director: Sarah Garfinkel

University College London, UK

Co- Director: Sahib Khalsa

University of California Los Angeles, USA

Faculty:

Kyle Simmons, Oklahoma State University, USA

Justin Feinstein, Float Research Collective & University of Iowa, USA

Diego Bohorquez, Duke University School of Medicine, USA

Sarah Garfinkel, University College London, UK

Sahib Khalsa, University of California Los Angeles, USA

The study of interoception— the process by which the nervous system senses, interprets, and integrates signals arising from within the body—is revolutionizing our understanding of brain disorders. Interoception sits at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and medicine, providing a framework for understanding how signals arising from cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and other bodily systems interact with neural processes governing homeostasis, cognition, emotion, and behavior. This perspective challenges conventional brain-centric models by placing neural function within the ongoing physiological dynamics of the body.

This Advanced Course will immerse participants in the latest cutting-edge research on interoception, exploring how interoceptive signals are sensed and integrated across conscious and unconscious levels and how it reshapes our understanding of neurological and psychiatric conditions. Faculty will lead a deep examination of neurobiological and computational models of interoceptive sensing, prediction, and regulation, bridging mechanisms across species and levels of analysis while highlighting the role of interoception in shaping human cognition, emotion, memory, decision-making, and the embodied sense of self. Throughout this course, we will break new ground in exploring interoception’s role in the mechanisms and pathophysiology of complex brain disorders, including anxiety, depression, traumatic stress, schizophrenia, eating disorders, functional neurological disorders, and depersonalization/derealization syndromes.

Attendees and faculty will engage in rich discussions about whether altered body–brain signaling represents a shared mechanism linking mental and physical illness, and how these pathways provide tractable targets for intervention. Participants will 1) Explore and critique the most advanced contemporary models of interoception, examining neural, behavioral, computational, and cognitive perspectives, 2) Gain insights into the dynamic and temporally patterned interactions between peripheral bodily systems and central neural circuits, focusing on how they contribute to mood regulation, memory formation, and decision-making. 3) Discuss and debate interoception’s role in health and disease, emphasising how causal perturbations and mechanistic models across species can reveal disease mechanisms and identify new therapeutic targets. 4) Engage directly with each faculty expert for a full day of personalized, intense, and stimulating one-on-one or small-group mentoring. This transformative experience is designed for both emerging researchers and established investigators eager to enrich their understanding of interoception and its role in brain disorders. Dynamic, trans-disciplinary debates will challenge existing frameworks for understanding brain–body integration and identify new questions, experimental approaches, and therapeutic opportunities for brain disorders.