Cardiac defense response and negative emotionality

Abstract

Cardiac Defense Response (CDR) is a dynamic pattern of cardiac reactivity in response to an aversive, discrete, intense and unexpected stimulus consisting of two successive accelerative and decelerative components whose psychological significance is attributed to both attentional and emotional processes. According to the model of the defensive cascade proposed by P. Lang, the second accelerative component of CDR can be interpreted as an indicator of activation of the defensive motivational system. This study aims to analyze the relationship between CDR and levels of anxiety and depression as indicators of negative affect. The experimental sample consisted of 100 participants, Psychology and Criminology undergraduate students of Universitat Jaume I. The experimental task consisted in the presentation of an intense and aversive sound (500 ms, 105 dB) after a rest period of 6 minutes. The recording of the accelerative and decelerative components was performed during the 80 s after the presentation of the acoustic stimulus. At the end of the experimental session, a battery of questionnaires was administered, including BDI, STAI (State and Trait), PANAS and ERQ. Current results suggest that both accelerators and decelerators have similar scores on self-report measures of negative affect.