Appetitive motivational influences on heart rate

Abstract

Seven experiments employing monetary incentive (MI) vs performance feedback only (FO) in a continuous motor task demonstrated that heart rate (HR) responds to increases in appetitive motivation. In all experiments HR increases were greater with MI than with FO. Other findings include the following: 1. 1. A graded effect of MI (e.g. 0¢, 2¢, 5¢) on HR was found in two studies. 2. 2. Motor response rates do not account for the HR differences. 3. 3. Eliminating failure feedback does not diminish the effect of MI, suggesting that aversive motivation does not account for the results. 4. 4. Consistent effects of MI over FO have been found with 50, 90 and 100% success conditions, but results with 10% success have been inconsistent. Fifty per cent yields somewhat smaller HR increases than 90%, but the differences are not significant. 5. 5. A response cost paradigm in which subjects start with $6.00 and then lose 5¢/failure feedback yielded results comparable to those for the standard reward paradigm. 6. 6. Type A personality subjects showed a greater response to MI than did Type B subjects, suggesting greater appetitive motivation. Overall, these results suggest that HR may be used to assess excessive and deficient appetitive motivational responses which are central to numerous theories of personality and psychopathology.