The influence of false interoceptive feedback on emotional state and balance responses to height-induced postural threat
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Published version
Author(s)
Hill, Mathew W
Johnson, Ellie
Ellmers, Toby J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Postural threat elicits a robust emotional response (e.g., fear and anxiety about falling), with concomitant modifications in balance. Recent theoretical accounts propose that emotional responses to postural threats are manifested, in part, from the conscious monitoring and appraisal of bodily signals ('interoception'). Here, we empirically probe the role of interoception in shaping emotional responses to a postural threat by experimentally manipulating interoceptive cardiac feedback. Sixty young adults completed a single 60-s trial under the following conditions: Ground (no threat) without heart rate (HR) feedback, followed by Threat (standing on the edge of a raised surface), during which participants received either false heart rate feedback (either slow [n = 20] or fast [n = 20] HR feedback) or no feedback (n = 20). Participants provided with false fast HR feedback during postural threat felt more fearful, reported feeling less stable, and rated the task more difficult than participants who did not receive HR feedback, or those who received false slow HR feedback (Cohen's d effect size = 0.79 - 1.78). However, behavioural responses did not significantly differ across the three groups. When compared to the no HR feedback group, false slow HR feedback did not significantly affect emotional or behavioural responses to the postural threat. These observations provide the first experimental evidence for emerging theoretical accounts describing the role of interoception in the generation of emotional responses to postural threats.
Date Issued
2024-05-01
Date Acceptance
2024-04-18
Citation
Biological Psychology, 2024, 189, pp.108803-108803
ISSN
0301-0511
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
108803
End Page
108803
Journal / Book Title
Biological Psychology
Volume
189
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38663458
PII: S0301-0511(24)00062-0
Subjects
Anxiety
Balance
False feedback
Fear of falling
Heart rate
Interoception
Postural control
Postural threat
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Article Number
ARTN 108803
Date Publish Online
2024-04-23