The rhythm of the heart in the blink of an eye: emotion-modulated startle magnitude covaries with heart rate variability
Abstract
Emotion-modulated startle is a robust phenomenon that has been demonstrated in a wide range of experimental situations. Similarly, heart rate variability (HRV) has been associated with a diverse range of processes including affective and attentional regulation. The present study sought to examine the relationship between these two important measures of affective behavior. Ninety female participants viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures while exposed to acoustic startle stimuli. The eyeblink startle was recorded both during the affective foregrounds and during intertrial intervals. HRV was assessed during a resting baseline and relationships between HRV and startle magnitudes examined. Results indicated that resting HRV was inversely related to startle magnitude during both intertrial intervals and affective foregrounds. In addition, the participants with the highest HRV showed the most differentiated emotion-modulated startle effects, whereas those with the lowest HRV, compared to those with the highest HRV, showed significantly potentiated startle to neutral foregrounds and marginally potentiated startle to pleasant foregrounds. The findings are consistent with models that posit that prefrontal cortical activity modulates subcortical motivation circuits. These results have important implications for the use of startle probe methodology and for HRV in the study of emotional regulation and dysregulation.
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Not recognizing safety is not restricted to people suffering from stressors or anxiety.
“Moreover, not recognizing safety is not restricted to people suffering from stressors or anxiety (Pappens et al., 2014;Ruiz-Padial et al., 2003;Wendt et al., 2015).”
From Exposed to events that never happen: generalized unsafety, the default stress response, and prolonged autonomic activity (2017) · cites this paper as Ruiz-Padial et al., 2003
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- Authors
- Ruiz‐Padial, E., Sollers, J. J., Vila, J., & Thayer, J. F.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Jaén (ES)
- National Institute on Aging (US)
- Universidad de Granada (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Thayer, Julian F.
- Venue
- Psychophysiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2003-02-25
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 306-313
- ISSN
- 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8986
- OpenAlex
- W2107861404
- Cited by
- 179
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 2.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- heart rate variability, acoustic startle response, emotion regulation, prefrontal cortex, startle potentiation, emotional arousal
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Electrocardiography, Electromyography, Emotions, Facial Muscles, Female, Heart, Humans, Reflex, Startle
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