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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

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Heart Rate Variability Predicts Older Adults' Avoidance of Negativity.

Konstantinos Mantantzis¹, Friederike Schlaghecken¹, Elizabeth A Maylor¹

¹Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences

|December 7, 2018

Summary

Older adults with higher heart rate variability (HRV), an index of autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, showed a greater ability to avoid negative emotional stimuli. This suggests ANS efficiency may support emotional regulation in aging.

Keywords:

Aging Eye tracking Heart rate variability Negativity avoidance Positivity effect

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Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Published on: January 24, 2020

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Gerontology

Background:

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functionality is crucial for adaptive cognitive and emotional responses.
Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects ANS function and is linked to cognitive control in young adults.
Older adults exhibit a positivity effect, preferring positive over negative stimuli, potentially due to cognitive control mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between resting heart rate variability (HRV) and the positivity effect in older adults.
To determine if HRV can predict the magnitude of the positivity effect, specifically negativity avoidance, in older individuals.

Main Methods:

Resting-level HRV was measured in 63 young and 62 older adults.
Gaze preference for happy and angry faces (relative to neutral) was assessed.
The association between HRV and gaze preference was analyzed in both age groups.

Main Results:

Older adults displayed a positivity effect, primarily through avoiding negative stimuli, unlike young adults.
A significant association was found between higher HRV and stronger negativity avoidance in older adults, but not in young adults.

Conclusions:

This study provides the first evidence linking older adults' ANS functionality (measured by HRV) to their avoidance of negative information.
Enhancing cardiovascular system efficiency may improve older adults' capacity to mitigate negative emotional influences.