Interoception, the sense of the body’s physiological state, incorporates information from the skin. Both interoceptive input and social/affective touch are conveyed to the central nervous system through small diameter, unmyelinated afferent fibers that ultimately converge on the posterior insula. This relation is traceable developmentally to the heavy reliance of the fetus and infant on their mother/caregiver for autonomic regulation. Caregiving alleviates homeostatic/allostatic imbalances such as cold, hunger, and pain, and is delivered in the context of social touch. The predictive sensorimotor loops that characterize the interplay between interoceptive and visceromotor signals are initially a shared system between infant and caregiver. With development, autonomic regulation becomes more autonomous, but with residual dependence on social contact to continue to maintain allostasis.

内感受，身体生理状态的感觉，结合了来自皮肤的信息。内感受输入和社交/情感触觉都通过小直径、无髓鞘的传入纤维传递到中枢神经系统，最终会聚在后脑岛。这种关系在发展上可以追溯到胎儿和婴儿对他们的母亲/照顾者的自主调节的严重依赖。照料可减轻体内平衡/平衡失衡，例如寒冷、饥饿和疼痛，并在社交接触的背景下提供。表征内感受和内脏运动信号之间相互作用的预测性感觉运动回路最初是婴儿和看护者之间的共享系统。随着发展，自主调节变得更加自主，