Higher resting heart rate variability predicts skill in expressing some emotions

Abstract

Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is a measure of cardiac vagal tone, and is widely viewed as a physiological index of the capacity to regulate emotions. However, studies have not directly tested whether vmHRV is associated with the ability to facially express emotions. In extending prior work, the current report tested links between resting vmHRV and the objectively assessed ability to facially express emotions, hypothesizing that higher vmHRV would predict greater expressive skill. Eighty healthy women completed self-reported measures, before attending a laboratory session in which vmHRV and the ability to express six emotions in the face were assessed. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed a marginal main effect for vmHRV on skill overall; individuals with higher resting vmHRV were only better able to deliberately facially express anger and interest. Findings suggest that differences in resting vmHRV are associated with the objectively assessed ability to facially express some, but not all, emotions, with potential implications for health and well-being.

Emotional expression in psychiatric conditions: New technology for clinicians

“…We have tried to include the diagnostic and therapeutic methods that have been published in scientific journals, but the data, including quantitative and qualitative information, are limited, which causes an important drawback of this paper. For the summary of these methods see Table . What we can expect in the future is a rapid growth of use of modern technologies, such as VR, augmented reality, and interactive systems based on game consoles, in therapy enhancement.…”

“…Physiological parameter analysis can also help to predict emotional expression. People with higher resting vagally mediated heart rate variability are able to deliberately express anger and interest . The single physiological parameter that may also be useful is respiration, which allows 73.06% accuracy for valence and 80.78% for arousal identification.…”

Non-suicidal Self-Injury in Eating Disordered Patients: Associations with Heart Rate Variability and State-Trait Anxiety

“…EDs have been associated with alterations in the autonomic nervous system, however, results are still inconclusive with most studies accounting increased HRV to parasympathetic nervous system dominance, whereas others describe decreased HRV conveying dominance of the sympathetic nervous system, or no differences comparing HRV in ED patients to controls (Mazurak et al, 2011; Peschel et al, 2016a,b). Additionally, HRV is an objective measure that has been considered as an index of ER capacity in a large number of studies (Di Simplicio et al, 2012; Thayer et al, 2012; Tuck et al, 2016; Visted et al, 2017). Specifically, it has been proposed that higher HRV is associated with a greater capacity to regulate negative emotions in terms of emotional clarity (i.e., the capacity to identify these emotions) and emotional impulse-control (to adaptively inhibit or regulate emotional responses).…”

Does the ability to express different emotions predict different indices of physical health? A skill‐based study of physical symptoms and heart rate variability

“…For symptoms that participants reported experiencing, they indicated the degree to which each symptom interfered with daily living on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). The PSI has strong reliability and adequate validity (Wahler, ), with prior work reporting internal consistency estimates ranging from .82 to .94 (Consedine & Butler, ; Consedine et al ., ; Tuck, Grant, Sollers, et al ., ) and test–retest reliability ranges from .45 to .94 (Consedine et al ., ). In the present report, Cronbach's α = .81, and mean ( SD ) = 1.55 (1.09).…”

“…More directly relevant to physical health, expressive skills have been associated with physiological parameters, particularly heart rate variability (HRV) (e.g., Demaree, Pu, Robinson, Schmeichel, & Everhart, 2006;Kettunen, Ravaja, N€ a€ at€ anen, & Keltikangas-J€ arvinen, 2000;Tuck, Grant, Sollers, Booth, & Consedine, 2016). HRV is a measure of the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate, and reflects the output of the central autonomic network (Thayer, Ahs, Fredrikson, Sollers, & Wager, 2012).…”