Braga, Patrícia VilelaMarshall, AmandaLamela, DiogoJongenelen, InêsRocha, Nuno BarbosaCosta, RaquelPasion, RitaSchütz-Bosbach, SimonePinto, Tiago MiguelFeldman, RuthCampos, CarlosCampos, CarlosRocha, Nuno2025-11-062025-11-062025-07Braga, P. V., Marshall, A., Lamela, D., Jongenelen, I., Rocha, N. B., Costa, R., Pasion, R., Schütz-Bosbach, S., Pinto, T. M., Feldman, R., & Campos, C. (2025). Neurophysiological markers of cardiac interoceptive processing in first-time expectant mothers. International Journal of Psychophysiology-Proceedings of the 22nd World Congress of Psychophysiology (IOP 2025) of the International Organization of Psychophysiology (IOP), 213(Supplement), 112995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.1129950167-8760http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/30763Pregnancy is a complex biological phenomenon where two distinct pathways may produce changes in interoception (ability to perceive and subjectively experience inner bodily states). First, pregnancy modifies the parental caregiving brain network, which includes key regions for interoceptive processing, particularly the insula. Second, pregnancy also changes the strength, frequency, and/or nature of interoceptive signals across different modalities (e.g., cardiac, respiratory, gastric). This study investigates pregnancy-related changes in neural markers of cortical interoceptive processing, specifically heartbeat-evoked potentials (HEP), by comparing first-time expectant mothers with non-pregnant, age-matched females. Data were collected from first-time expectant mothers (n = 13; Mage = 32.15 years) and matched controls (n = 8; mean age = 30.88 years) at 28–32 weeks of gestation. EEG recordings, time-locked to R-peaks (ECG), were obtained while participants completed the Infant Face Repetition Suppression Task. This paradigm was designed to induce an emotion (sad vs. neutral) and age-specific (infant vs. adult) modulation of HEP amplitude. A cluster mass permutation test was employed to identify the electrodes and time-windows where HEP amplitude was effectively modulated (right frontal-central; 308 - 600 ms). Repetition-suppression effects on HEP amplitude were observed for adult stimuli (p = .049, d = 0.499), while no modulation was observed in the infant condition (p = .471, d = 0.174). Pregnant participants displayed significantly lower HEP amplitude in adult trials in comparison to non-pregnant controls (p = .046, g = 0.997). Despite significant differences only emerging in the adult trials, pregnant women displayed lower HEP amplitude across all conditions. These findings suggest that pregnancy modifies cardiac interoceptive processing, leading to an overall decrease in HEP amplitude. Contrary to our hypothesis, expectant mothers did not exhibit infant- or emotion-specific changes in neural markers of cardiac interoception.engconference paper10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.1129951872-7697