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Abstract:
The subjective experience of emotions is rooted in the contextualized perception of changes in bodily (e.g., heart) activity. Increased emotional arousal (EA) has been related to lower high- frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), lower EEG parieto-occipital alpha power, and higher heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) amplitudes. We studied EA-related brain-heart interactions (BHIs) using immersive virtual reality (VR) for naturalistic yet controlled emotion induction. 29 healthy adults (13 women, age: 26±3) completed a VR experience that included rollercoasters while EEG and ECG were recorded. Continuous EA ratings were collected during a video replay immediately after. We analyzed EA-related changes in HF-HRV as well as in BHIs using HEPs and directional functional BHI modeling.
Higher EA was associated with lower HEP amplitudes in a left fronto-central electrode cluster. While parasympathetic modulation of the heart (HF-HRV) and parieto-occipital EEG alpha power were reduced during higher EA, there was no evidence for the hypothesized EA-related changes in bidirectional information flow between them. Whole-brain exploratory analyses in additional EEG (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma) and HRV (low-frequency, LF, and HF) frequency bands indicated a temporo-occipital cluster, in which higher EA was linked to decreased brain-to-heart (gamma→HF-HRV) and increased heart-to-brain (LF-HRV→gamma) information flow. Our results confirm previous findings from less naturalistic experiments and suggest EA-related BHI changes in temporo-occipital gamma power.
