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Behavioural approach-avoidance tendencies among individuals with elevated blood pressure
Meenakshi Shukla1,2, Jennifer Y F Lau1,3, Rakesh Pandey4
1Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.)
|February 15, 2023
Summary
Individuals with high blood pressure (BP) show sensitized, not dampened, motivational responses to negative emotions like anger. This suggests elevated BP may heighten reactions to threatening stimuli.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Cardiovascular Health
Background:
- Emotional dampening is observed in individuals with elevated blood pressure (BP).
- The impact of elevated BP on basic motivational systems (approach-avoidance) remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how approach and avoidance motivational systems are affected by elevated BP.
- To examine responses to positively and negatively valenced stimuli in individuals with high and low BP.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-design ANOVA was used to analyze data from an approach-avoidance task.
- Participants (High BP: n=27, Low BP: n=29) performed tasks involving happy and angry facial expressions.
- Reaction times (RTs) were measured for congruent and incongruent action-emotion pairings.
Main Results:
- Participants were faster in congruent versus incongruent conditions.
- An emotion x BP interaction was observed.
- High BP individuals showed quicker responses to angry faces compared to happy faces, unlike the Low BP group.
Conclusions:
- Elevated blood pressure does not dampen valence-specific motivational reactions.
- High BP appears to sensitize motivational responses, particularly to negative emotions like anger.
- This suggests a potential heightened sensitivity to threat-related stimuli in individuals with elevated BP.
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