Two Theses: Interoception in Adolescents

start in Spring 2025

The Chair of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology has an opening for two theses on interoception in adolescents.

Interoception is the ability to perceive and process internal body signals, such as heartbeat, breathing, or the state of the digestive system. Problems with interoception have been associated with various mental and physical health issues, including anxiety, depression, and somatoform disorders.

To assess interoception, questionnaires are commonly used. However, such self-assessments have limitations, including subjective biases and a lack of accuracy in measuring the true precision of interoceptive perception. Experimental tasks offer a more objective alternative, directly measuring the ability to detect signals from different organ systems like the heart, lungs, or stomach. While these methods are well-established for adults, their application to children and adolescents is less developed. Children, due to their developmental stage, often have lower precision in perceiving body signals. To ensure these tasks are suitable for younger age groups, they need to be carefully adapted to match the cognitive and emotional development of children and adolescents, avoiding tasks that are too demanding while ensuring valid results.

This project aims to pilot two interoception tasks specifically designed for children and adolescents aged 12 to 17. Since these tasks have not yet been used with this age group, the piloting phase is essential to evaluate their feasibility and effectiveness.

As part of this project, students will receive detailed training and close mentoring. Students will work with adolescents, administering experimental tasks, questionnaires, and gaining experience in participant recruitment. Specific research questions can be determined based on student interests.

If you are interested, please send an application with the relevant documents (i.e. CV, bachelor's thesis) to Julia Ditzer, email: .