Insulab is a psychology research lab based at Royal Holloway, University of London and led by Dr Rebecca Brewer. The focus of our research is to understand how people perceive and interpret bodily signals, and the impact this has on social understanding, emotional experience, and the regulation of essential daily behaviours.
Our aims
To understand how interoception may influence the development of mental health conditions, such as Eating Disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorders.
To investigate how alexithymia is associated with both social and sensory processing difficulties in developmental conditions, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders.
To explore the relationship between interoception and alexithymia, both in clinical and non-clinical populations.
“Interoception means noticing things like how quickly your heart is beating, how heavily you are breathing, how hot or cold you are, and whether you are feeling hungry or full”
Interoception
Interoception refers to the ability to perceive internal sensations from the body, such as hunger, temperature, breathing, and pain.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders involve atypical eating patterns and attitudes towards eating.
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a condition characterised by difficulties in social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behaviours.
Emotion recognition
Emotion recognition means determining how someone else is feeling from their emotional expressions.
Alexithymia
Alexithymia refers to difficulties identifying and describing one’s own emotions.
Face processing
Face processing refers to the perception and recognition of other people’s faces.