Heart's eyes to see color: Cardiac vagal tone modulates the impact of ethnicity on selected attention under high load

The present study tested whether cardiac vagal activity—which is known to play a vital role in social cognition and engagement—predicted the impact of faces of other ethnicity on selective attention under load. Based on the neurovisceral integration theory, we hypothesized that participants with hig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of psychophysiology 2022-06, Vol.176, p.27-35
Main Authors: Park, Gewnhi, Inman, Mary L., Boyle, Emma, Kim, Namhee, Thompson, Alexander, Williams, DeWayne P., Thayer, Julian F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention - physiology
Cardiac vagal tone
Ethnicity
High load
Humans
Inhibition, Psychological
Male
Reaction Time - physiology
Selective attention
Vagus Nerve - physiology
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Summary:The present study tested whether cardiac vagal activity—which is known to play a vital role in social cognition and engagement—predicted the impact of faces of other ethnicity on selective attention under load. Based on the neurovisceral integration theory, we hypothesized that participants with higher resting heart rate variability (HRV) would exhibit better task performance of a target detection task in trials with face distractors of other ethnicity than participants with lower resting HRV, when cognitive resources were scarce under high load. Caucasian participants were instructed to detect a target letter among letter strings superimposed on Black or White male distractor faces under high and low perceptual load. Consistent with the prediction, under high load, HRV was positively correlated with accuracy in trials with Black distractor faces, but not in trials with White distractor faces. The current research demonstrated that individual differences in cardiac vagal tone predicted successful inhibition of an ethnicity-related distractor with limited cognitive resources, which allowed for completing goal-directed behavior more successfully. •HRV modulates the effect of ethnicity-related information on selective attention•Higher HRV was associated with better accuracy in trials with face distractors of another ethnicity face•HRV modulation was apparent under high load when cognitive capacities were limited.
ISSN:0167-8760
1872-7697
DOI:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.03.007