Abstract
Interoceptive dimensions vary across not just individuals, but also groups. This chapter reviews the role of demographic variables in shaping interoception. In particular, the focus is on cultural, gender, and sex-based differences in objective interoceptive accuracy and outcomes associated with self-reported interoception. In terms of culture, the majority of existing literature centres on ethnic differences, particularly between East Asian and European-American groups. These studies suggest that while Western groups tend to show greater interoceptive accuracy, non-Western groups report more interoceptive attention. A similar pattern is seen for gender, with men showing greater interoceptive accuracy but reporting less interoceptive attention than women. Research into cultural and gender differences are in many ways complementary, as cultural differences can be gender-specific, and gender itself is a product of culture, with gender norms and roles varying across cultural groups. Culture, gender, and sex influence different dimensions of interoception and have widespread implications for emotion, neuroscience, and mental health. The development of measures of interoceptive accuracy beyond the cardiac domain, and questionnaire measures with strong cross-cultural validity, will allow for further examination of such differences across interoceptive dimensions and bodily domains, extending our understanding of demographic differences in interoception, and their causes and implications.