Evoked cardiac responses and the late positive potential during cognitive reappraisal in young adult women: convergent and dissociable physiological markers

Cognitive reappraisal reliably reduces subjective negative affect and attenuates the late positive potential (LPP), a well-established neural marker of sustained motivational relevance and affective salience. However, it remains unclear whether peripheral cardiac responses reflect regulatory success in a manner comparable to cortical indices. The present study examined whether evoked cardiac responses (ECRs) are modulated by reappraisal and whether such modulation converges with changes in the LPP. Fifty-two young adult women viewed neutral and negative images and were instructed either to passively view or to reappraise negative stimuli. Subjective affect, LPP amplitude, and stimulus-locked cardiac deceleration were assessed on each trial. Reappraisal reduced reported negative affect and attenuated the LPP relative to passive viewing of negative stimuli, replicating established findings. In contrast, reappraisal enhanced cardiac deceleration rather than attenuating it. To assess regulatory success across measures, we computed difference scores reflecting reappraisal-related changes (reappraisal minus passive viewing of negative stimuli) for subjective affect, the LPP, and cardiac responses. Behavioral reappraisal success was modestly associated with both neural and cardiac difference scores, whereas the neural and cardiac indices were not significantly related to each other. These findings suggest that neural and cardiac responses during reappraisal reflect partially dissociable processes.