Abstract
Neurobiological theories suggest that inter-individual differences in vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) have the potential to serve as a biomarker for inter-individual differences in emotion regulation that are due to inter-individual differences regarding the engagement of prefrontal and (para-)limbic brain regions during emotion processing. To test these theories, we investigated whether inter-individual differences in vmHRV would be associated with inter-individual differences in emotion regulation. We determined resting state vmHRV in a sample of 176 individuals that had also completed a short self-report measure of reappraisal and suppression use. Resting state vmHRV was derived from short-term (300 s) and ultra-short-term (120 s, 60 s) recordings of participants’ heart rate to determine the robustness of possible findings. Irrespective of recording length, we found that an increase in resting state vmHRV was associated with an increase in self-reported reappraisal but not suppression use. However, this association was only evident among male but not female participants, indicating a sex-specific association between inter-individual differences in resting state vmHRV and inter-individual differences in self-reported emotion regulation. These findings, which are consistent with previous ones, support theoretical claims that inter-individual differences in vmHRV serve as a biomarker for inter-individual differences in emotion regulation. Combing (ultra-)short-term measures of resting state vmHRV with short self-report measures of emotion regulation may, thus, be useful for researchers who have to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of emotion regulation in a time- and resource-efficient manner.
Highlights
As social beings, we interact on a daily basis with other individuals
We investigated whether inter-individual differences in resting state vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) would be associated with inter-individual differences in self-reported emotion regulation abilities
Across a series of correlation and regression analyses, we found sex-dependent associations between inter-individual differences in resting state vmHRV and inter-individual differences in self-reported reappraisal use but not suppression use: Male participants with high resting state vmHRV reported more reappraisal but similar suppression use than male participants with low resting state vmHRV, indicating an increase in self-reported reappraisal but not suppression use with increasing resting state vmHRV
Summary
We interact on a daily basis with other individuals. these interactions are often rewarding (e.g., interacting with a caring partner), they may turn out to be frustrating (e.g., interacting with a stubborn child). Unsuccessful emotion regulation may result in clinical and subclinical levels of stress, anxiety and depression (Garnefski et al, 2001; Gross and John, 2003; Martin and Dahlen, 2005; Moore et al, 2008; Hofmann et al, 2009; Aldao and NolenHoeksema, 2010), thereby increasing the risk to develop mental disorders in the aftermath of emotionally arousing interactions (Gross, 2002). Reappraisal use appears to be more efficient in attenuating emotional distress and physiological arousal than suppression use (Gross, 1998; Butler et al, 2003; Gross and John, 2003; Moore et al, 2008; Hofmann et al, 2009; Aldao and NolenHoeksema, 2010), presumably because reappraisal use is more associated with an increase in prefrontal activity and a decrease in (para-)limbic activity than suppression use (Goldin et al, 2008; Drabant et al, 2009; McRae et al, 2010; Vanderhasselt et al, 2013; Nelson et al, 2015) As a consequence, suppression use is more likely to cause symptoms and disorders of stress, anxiety and depression than reappraisal use (Gross, 2002)
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