Paul W. Savoca

Interoception & Early Life Adversity

This line of work aims to understand how early-life adversity (ELA) impacts individual differences in interoception, and how these differences may underlie risk for mental and physical health.

Interoception & Pregnancy

Our recent theoretical work suggests that the physiological, hormonal, and neural changes of pregnancy may make it a sensitive period for interoceptive functions. We suggest interoception may be heightened during pregnancy to adapt to the physiological and metabolic challenges — as supported by our online self-reported data and in-lab task based measures of interoception.

Interoception & Menstrual Health

Building on our findings linking pregnancy and interoception, we have extended our work to specifically focus on how hormonal fluctuations may impact both self-reported and task-based measures of interoception. The Cyclic Hormones and Interoception with Repeated Profiling (CHIRP) study is a longitudinal dense sampling study to examine how natural fluctuations across the menstrual cycle interaction with self-report, task-based, and neural measures of interoception.

Recent Publications

Exploring the relationships between discrimination, alexithymia, and anxiety in women.
PW Savoca, A Fabian, SM Esfand, BL Callaghan
Stigma and Health (2025)

Exploring the impact of maternal early life adversity on interoceptive sensibility in pregnancy: implications for prenatal depression
PW Savoca, LM Glynn, MM Fox, MC Richards, BL Callaghan
Archives of Women’s Mental Health (2025)

Interoception in pregnancy: Implications for peripartum depression
PW Savoca, LM Glynn, MM Fox, MC Richards, BL Callaghan
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2024)

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