Interoceptive ability predicts survival on a London trading floor
Journal
Scientific Reports
Subject
Organisational Behaviour
Publishing details
Authors / Editors
Kandasamy N; Garfinkel S N; Page L; Hardy B; Critchley H D; Gurnell M; Coates J M
Biographies
Publication Year
2016
Abstract
Interoception is the sensing of physiological signals originating inside the body, such as hunger, pain and heart rate. People with greater sensitivity to interoceptive signals, as measured by, for example, tests of heart beat detection, perform better in laboratory studies of risky decision-making. However, there has been little field work to determine if interoceptive sensitivity contributes to success in real-world, high-stakes risk taking. Here, we report on a study in which we quantified heartbeat detection skills in a group of financial traders working on a London trading floor. We found that traders are better able to perceive their own heartbeats than matched controls from the non-trading population. Moreover, the interoceptive ability of traders predicted their relative profitability, and strikingly, how long they survived in the financial markets. Our results suggest that signals from the body - the gut feelings of financial lore - contribute to success in the markets.
Available on ECCH
No