Laterality, Emotionality, and Heartbeat Perception

Abstract

Recent research on visceral perception has indicated that hemispheric specialization and emotionality may account for individual differences among subjects. The present study was designed to examine the nature of the relationship between hemispheric specialization and emotionality, and the manner in which these variables influence individual differences in visceral perception (i.e., detection of cardiac activity). Male subjects were given 20 questions used to test lateral eye movements. Following the completion of the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Form X‐1 (State Anxiety), cardiac awareness was assessed using the Whitehead heartbeat discrimination procedure. Subjects then completed the STAI, Form X‐2 (Trait Anxiety), and the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Results indicated that good heartbeat perceivers made significantly more left lateral eye movements (i.e., right hemisphere preferent) than poor perceivers on any of the emotional indicators. It was found, however, that subjects with high scores on two of the three emotional indicators made significantly more left lateral eye movements than subjects with low scores. Additional analyses indicate that respiration rate and subject obesity may affect the ability to detect feedback of cardiovascular function.

Emotional reactivity and the overreport of somatic symptoms: Somatic sensitivity or negative reporting style?

“…[19,84]). In addition, the lack of connection between somatic sensitivity and ER has now been consistently demonstrated in studies examining autonomic responsiveness at rest and during stressor tasks [19,85], as well as in estimating individual resting heartbeats [20,86,87]. Moreover, even somatizing tendencies themselves are not related to objective measures of somatic sensitivity.…”

How we perceive our own hands: Effects of attention, aging, and sex

“…excessively bitten nails, gashes, scars, spots). Obesity was also a criterion barring participation, given that it is known to lower interoceptive performance (Montgomery and Jones 1984). Three additional participants (one young, two older) were recruited but not included in the analyses due to the fact that they reported no sensations at all.…”

Accuracy of respiratory symptom perception in different affective contexts

“…Some results point to better accuracy among high -NA persons [25][26][27], while other studies suggest that high -NA individuals are actually poorer perceivers [28,29], and still, others show no relationship [30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. The discrepancy among these results may, in part, be due to differences in investigated physiological responses, in research paradigms, and in populations.…”