TY - JOUR
T1 - The relationship between social anxiety and heartbeat evoked potential amplitude
AU - Judah, Matt R.
AU - Shurkova, Ekaterina Y.
AU - Hager, Nathan M.
AU - White, Evan J.
AU - Taylor, Danielle L.
AU - Grant, De Mond M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Oklahoma State University [Robberson Dissertation Fellowship; Distinguished Graduate Fellowship], the American Psychological Foundation/Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology [Graduate Research Scholarship in Psychology], and the Old Dominion University Office of Research [Summer Research Fellowship Program]. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the sources which funded this research. All authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Past research suggests that social anxiety is associated with increased processing of cardiac activity. Cognitive theories propose that this is one aspect of self-focus, which is driven by concerns that features of the self, such as anxiety symptoms, will elicit evaluation from others. We investigated the relationship of social anxiety to the cortical processing of heartbeats as reflected in the heartbeat evoked potential (HEP) during false feedback of accelerated heart rate. Thirty-eight participants with high social anxiety (HSA; n = 19) and non-elevated social anxiety (NSA; n = 19) completed a cognitive task during which false feedback of accelerated heart rate was randomly provided on 50% of trials. HEP amplitude was larger in HSAs, but not NSAs, during false heartbeat acceleration cues compared to standard cues. HEP amplitude also was larger in HSAs compared to NSAs during acceleration cues. HEP amplitude during acceleration cues, but not standard cues correlated with social anxiety. Within the first second after the R-peak, social anxiety correlated with voltage at Fz from 223 to 305 ms. Social concerns about the consequences of anxiety symptoms accounted for an indirect relationship between social anxiety and the HEP. These data extend prior evidence of increased processing of cardiac activity in socially anxious individuals, providing support for cognitive theories.
AB - Past research suggests that social anxiety is associated with increased processing of cardiac activity. Cognitive theories propose that this is one aspect of self-focus, which is driven by concerns that features of the self, such as anxiety symptoms, will elicit evaluation from others. We investigated the relationship of social anxiety to the cortical processing of heartbeats as reflected in the heartbeat evoked potential (HEP) during false feedback of accelerated heart rate. Thirty-eight participants with high social anxiety (HSA; n = 19) and non-elevated social anxiety (NSA; n = 19) completed a cognitive task during which false feedback of accelerated heart rate was randomly provided on 50% of trials. HEP amplitude was larger in HSAs, but not NSAs, during false heartbeat acceleration cues compared to standard cues. HEP amplitude also was larger in HSAs compared to NSAs during acceleration cues. HEP amplitude during acceleration cues, but not standard cues correlated with social anxiety. Within the first second after the R-peak, social anxiety correlated with voltage at Fz from 223 to 305 ms. Social concerns about the consequences of anxiety symptoms accounted for an indirect relationship between social anxiety and the HEP. These data extend prior evidence of increased processing of cardiac activity in socially anxious individuals, providing support for cognitive theories.
KW - Anxiety sensitivity
KW - Event-related potential
KW - Heartbeat evoked potential
KW - Social anxiety
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054360374&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.09.013
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.09.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 30290212
AN - SCOPUS:85054360374
SN - 0301-0511
VL - 139
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - Biological Psychology
JF - Biological Psychology
ER -