Detecting Cardiovascular Emotional Dampening: An Exploration of Emotional Dampening at Different Levels of Emotion Processing

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular emotional dampening is the phrase used to describe the inverse relationship between blood pressure and emotional responsivity. The emotional dampening literature is limited, but the phenomenon is thought to be related to the development of cardiovascular disease. Little is known about the underlying mechanisms, course of development, or related behavioral consequences. Purpose: The present study sought to expand upon on the existing literature by replicating previous research findings, determining if emotional dampening is more easily detectable using a bottom-up emotion-related task rather than a top-down emotion-related task, and exploring how emotional dampening might be related to frontal asymmetry. Method: Eighty-four (51 women) healthy undergraduate students were asked to complete a series of self-report inventories related to state affect, alexithymia, behavioral avoidance, and behavioral approach. They were also asked to complete an initial 10 minute baseline recording of heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and frontal cortical activity. Following the recording, participants completed two emotion-related tasks. Task 1 was a replication task, while Task 2 consisted of an implicit emotion processing trial and an explicit emotion processing trial. After the emotion-related tasks were completed, participants completed a final 10 minute recording of heart rate and respiration. Results: The present data provided some evidence for each hypothesis associated with the three main aims; however, there were some notable observed sex differences. Discussion: The present study sheds further light upon the complex nature of cardiovascular emotional dampening. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.