Voluntary Heart Rate Control as a Function of Individual Differences in Electrodermal Lability

Twenty‐four male subjects were run in a paradigm in which they were first asked to rest for 10 min and then given 20 1‐min training trials of analog and digital feedback of their heart rate, with instructions to increase the rate. Subjects were rewarded with 0.2 cents for each interbeat interval that was faster than a designated criterion. Subjects were subdivided into “labile” and “stabile” groups on the basis of frequency of spontaneous skin conductance fluctuations during the baseline period. Mean heart rate for the training trials was compared with the baseline period for the most labile and most stabile subjects. Results indicated that there was a significant treatment effect for stabile subjects only, but not for labile subjects.