Fear-induced bradycardia serves as a valuable psychophysiological measure in human fear conditioning, characterized by a distinct pattern of cardiac deceleration following exposure to threatening stimuli.
This review highlights the utility and methodological considerations of using fear-induced bradycardia as a psychophysiological measure in human fear conditioning paradigms.
In the last century, the paradigm of fear conditioning has greatly evolved in a variety of scientific fields. The techniques, protocols, and analysis methods now most used have undergone a progressive development, theoretical and technological, improving the quality of scientific productions. Fear-induced bradycardia is among these techniques and represents the temporary deceleration of heart beats in response to negative outcomes. However, it has often been used as a secondary measure to assess defensive responding to threat, along other more popular techniques. In this review, we aim at paving the road for its employment as an additional tool in fear conditioning experiments in humans. After an overview of the studies carried out throughout the last century, we describe more recent evidence up to the most contemporary research insights. Lastly, we provide some guidelines concerning the best practices to adopt in human fear conditioning studies which aim to investigate fear-induced bradycardia.
Battaglia et al. (Tue,) conducted a review in Fear-induced bradycardia. Fear conditioning paradigms was evaluated. Fear-induced bradycardia serves as a valuable psychophysiological measure in human fear conditioning, characterized by a distinct pattern of cardiac deceleration following exposure to threatening stimuli.