Abstract
Recent data suggests that several psychopathological conditions are associated with alterations in the variability of behavioral and physiological responses. Pathological worry, defined as the cognitive representation of a potential threat, has been associated with reduced variability of heart beat oscillations (i.e., decreased heart rate variability; HRV) and lapses of attention indexed by reaction times (RTs). Clinical populations with attention deficit show RTs oscillation around 0.05 and 0.01 Hz when performing a sustained attention task. We tested the hypothesis that people who are prone to worry do it in a predictable oscillating pattern revealed through recurrent lapses in attention and concomitant oscillating HRV. Sixty healthy young adults (50% women) were recruited: 30 exceeded the clinical cut-off on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; High-Worry, HW); the remaining 30 constituted the Low-Worry (LW) group. After a diagnostic assessment, participants performed two 15-min sustained attention tasks, interspersed by a standardized worry-induction procedure. RTs, HRV and moods were assessed. The analyses of the frequency spectrum showed that the HW group presents a significant higher and constant peak of RTs oscillation around 0.01 Hz (period 100 s) after the induction of worry, in comparison with their baseline and with the LW group that was not responsive to the induction procedure. Physiologically, the induction significantly reduced high-frequency HRV and such reduction was associated with levels of self-reported worry. Results are coherent with the oscillatory nature of the default mode network (DMN) and further confirm an association between cognitive rigidity and autonomic nervous system inflexibility.
Highlights
Excessive worry is a core symptom of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; DSM-V) and has been conceptualized as a chain of thoughts and images, negatively affect-laden and relatively uncontrollable, containing the possibility of one or more negative outcomes and closely related to the fear process (Borkovec et al, 1983)
Ottaviani et al (2013, 2016b) confirmed that a worry induction is associated with a slowing down in reaction times (RTs) during a sustained attention task, further revealing an association between such attentional/cognitive rigidity and autonomic inflexibility, indexed by reduced heart rate variability (HRV)
Results indicated an association between difficulties in inhibiting worrisome thoughts and impaired deactivation of areas belonging to the so-called default mode network (DMN; Ottaviani et al, 2016b)
Summary
Excessive worry is a core symptom of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; DSM-V) and has been conceptualized as a chain of thoughts and images, negatively affect-laden and relatively uncontrollable, containing the possibility of one or more negative outcomes and closely related to the fear process (Borkovec et al, 1983). Ottaviani et al (2013, 2016b) confirmed that a worry induction is associated with a slowing down in reaction times (RTs) during a sustained attention task, further revealing an association between such attentional/cognitive rigidity and autonomic inflexibility, indexed by reduced heart rate variability (HRV). This association has been demonstrated using both subjective measures of cognitive rigidity (Ottaviani et al, 2013) and neural markers of attentional capacity (Ottaviani et al, 2016b). Results indicated an association between difficulties in inhibiting worrisome thoughts (both subjectively reported and indexed by RTs slowing down) and impaired deactivation of areas belonging to the so-called default mode network (DMN; Ottaviani et al, 2016b)
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