| Title | Heart rate variability response to alcohol, placebo, and emotional picture cue challenges: effects of 0.1-Hz stimulation. | ||
| Author | Vaschillo, Evgeny G; Bates, Marsha E; Vaschillo, Bronya; Lehrer, Paul; Udo, Tomoko; Mun, Eun Young; Ray, Suchismita | ||
| Journal | Psychophysiology | Publication Year/Month | 2008-Sep |
| PMID | 18513359 | PMCID | PMC2964051 |
| Affiliation | 1.Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA. Evaschil@rci.rutgers.edu. | ||
Heart rate variability (HRV) supports emotion regulation and is reduced by alcohol. Based on the resonance properties of the cardiovascular system, a new 0.1-Hz methodology was developed to present emotional stimuli and assess HRV reaction in participants (N=36) randomly assigned to an alcohol, placebo, or control condition. Blocked picture cues (negative, positive, neutral) were presented at a rate of 5 s on, 5 s off (i.e., 0.1-Hz frequency). SDNN, pNN50, and HF HRV were reduced by alcohol, compared to the placebo and control. The 0.1-Hz HRV index was diminished by alcohol and placebo, suggesting that autonomic regulation can be affected by cognitive expectancy. The 0.1-Hz HRV index and pNN50 detected changes in arousal during emotional compared to neutral cues, and the 0.1-Hz HRV index was most sensitive to negative valence. The 0.1-Hz HRV methodology may be useful for studying the intersection of cognition, emotion, and autonomic regulation.