Emotional Coherence Under Hypoxia and Aging: A Registered Report on Subjective-Physiological Coupling

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Physiology
• Gerontology

Background:

• Emotional episodes involve coordinated changes in subjective experience and autonomic activity.
• Subjective-physiological coherence, the link between feelings and bodily responses, may decline with age and physiological stress.
• Age-related autonomic and interoceptive changes might reduce the body's signal informativeness, weakening emotional coherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if subjective-physiological coherence differs between younger and older adults under normoxia.
• To examine if acute hypoxia affects subjective-physiological coherence in younger adults.
• To explore the relationship between heart-rate variability, cardiac interoceptive accuracy, and emotional coherence.

Main Methods:

• Tested three groups: younger adults in normoxia, younger adults in hypoxia (FiO2 ≈ 12%), and older adults in normoxia (N=120).
• Participants viewed emotional images and rated affect and approach motivation.
• Recorded heart rate and skin conductance to measure autonomic reactivity.

Main Results:

• Older adults in normoxia exhibited lower subjective-physiological coherence compared to younger adults in normoxia.
• Younger adults under hypoxia showed reduced coherence relative to younger adults in normoxia.
• Coherence levels in hypoxic younger adults were comparable to those in older normoxic adults.

Conclusions:

• Aging and acute hypoxia similarly impair subjective-physiological emotional coherence.
• Reduced coherence may stem from age-related or hypoxia-induced alterations in autonomic and interoceptive functions.
• Findings highlight the impact of physiological state on the integration of emotion-related signals.