Heart-Brain Temporal Coupling as a Candidate Biomarker of Self-Congruency

Background. Self-congruency refers to the coherence between emotional experience (internal states) and enacted behavior (outward actions). Reduced self-congruency has been linked to vulnerability in mental health, yet its physiological correlates remain poorly characterized. Heart-brain temporal coupling may provide a candidate physiological marker of this psychological coherence. Methods. Thirty-eight healthy adults underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging while cardiac activity was simultaneously recorded using photoplethysmography to derive heart rate variability (HRV). Self-congruency was assessed using a graphic rating scale based on the spatial overlap between emotional experience and enacted behavior. Heart-brain temporal coupling between HRV and regional blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals was quantified using cross-covariance analysis across biologically plausible temporal shifts. Results. Heart-brain temporal coupling predominantly reflected brain-to-heart temporal ordering, particularly within regions central to the neurovisceral integration model, including the ventromedial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices. In contrast, higher self-congruency was associated with stronger heart-to-brain temporal coupling, notably within the right rostral middle frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, regions implicated in emotion regulation and socio-emotional processing. Conclusions. While global heart-brain temporal coupling is dominated by top-down neural regulation, greater alignment between emotional experience and enacted behavior is associated with enhanced bottom-up cardiac temporal ordering on neural activity. These findings seem to identify a physiological-psychological axis that may inform original prevention-oriented approaches in mental health.