Biologische Korrelate der Selbstregulation

Self-regulation is considered as an ability to control one’s own thoughts, emotions and actions. Self-regulation is not domain-specific and is based on a limited strength resource. A depletion of this resource by the exertion of self-regulation is supposed to cause a state of reduced willpower called ego depletion. It is still questionable whether there are biological correlates of self-regulation that can explain this depletion. Prior research has considered glucose metabolism and heart rate variability to be such correlates. However, recent studies suggest that ego depletion is not a general phenomenon, but only occurs under certain conditions. The present study aimed to fill that gap in literature. Therefore experimental requirements for ego depletion and the relationship between blood glucose metabolism, heart rate variability, and self-regulation were investigated. Study 1 compared two versions of the first self-regulatory task of a dual task experiment, which differed in their length. It was shown that ego depletion occurred only in the shorter task. Affect and motivation were also measured, however did not contribute to the prediction of ego depletion. In Study 2, no correlation between self-regulation and glucose metabolism was found, although, under conditions of stable blood glucose, ego depletion did not occur. Heart rate variability in the resting state significantly contributed to the prediction of the later self-regulation performance. Overall, the current results could not support assumptions of previous research regarding self-regulation and biological correlates, and give prominence to doubts about the strength model and the assumption that glucose metabolism is linked to self-regulation. However, further research on the relationship between self-regulation and heart rate variability is needed for a better understanding of biological correlates of self-regulation. The main findings are integrated and implications for research on self-regulation and its biological correlates are discussed.Selbstregulationsleistung gilt als die domänenunspezifische Fähigkeit, eigene Gedanken, Gefühle und Handlungen zu kontrollieren und wird als begrenzte Ressource angesehen. Ein Aufbrauchen erfolgt durch das Ausüben von Selbstregulation und führt zu einem Erschöpfungszustand, der als Ego Depletion bezeichnet wird. Bisher wurde noch nicht ausreichend untersucht, ob diesem Effekt biologische Korrelate zugrunde liegen. Dafür in Betracht gezogen wurden der Blutglukosestoffwechsel und die Herzratenvariabilität. Befunde neuerer Studien legen nahe, dass Ego Depletion kein generelles Phänomen ist, sondern nur unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen auftritt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde untersucht, unter welchen experimentellen Bedingungen es zu Ego Depletion kommt und ob es Zusammenhänge zwischen Blutglukosestoffwechsel, Herzratenvariabilität und der Selbstregulation gibt. In der ersten Studie wurden zwei Aufgaben eines Dual Task-Experiments miteinander verglichen, die sich in ihrer Länge unterschieden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Ego Depletion nur bei der kürzeren Aufgabe auftrat. Affekt und Motivation der Probanden konnten nicht zur Varianzaufklärung dieses Unterschieds beitragen. In der zweiten Studie konnte kein Zusammenhang zwischen Selbstregulation und Blutglukosestoffwechsel gefunden werden. Unter der Bedingung eines stabilen Blutglukosespiegels trat Ego Depletion jedoch nicht auf. Die Herzratenvariabilität im Ruhezustand trug signifikant zur Vorhersage der späteren Selbstregulationsleistung bei. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse konnten bestehende Annahmen zu Selbstregulation und biologischen Korrelaten nicht bestätigen sondern untermauern Zweifel am Stärkemodell der Selbstregulation und der Annahme, dass Selbstregulation mit dem Blutglukosestoffwechsel assoziiert ist. Zur Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs von Selbstregulation und Herzratenvariabilität bedarf es weiterer Forschung. Die Befunde werden eingeordnet und Implikationen diskutiert

Health anxiety - An indicator of higher interoceptive sensitivity?

Background and objectives: According to cognitive-behavioral models, health anxiety arises from the misattribution of normal bodily sensations as signs of a severe illness. Consequently, higher levels of interoceptive accuracy might be critically involved in the development of health anxiety. Methods: To test this central assumption of cognitive behavioral models of health anxiety, we assessed interoceptive accuracy in a sample of college students (N = 100). Two interoceptive tasks (detection of one's own heartbeat using the Schandry paradigm and detection of nonspecific skin conductance fluctuations, NSCFs) were used. Results: We found no indication for a positive association between facets of health anxiety and a higher interoceptive accuracy in the two tasks. In fact, worse heartbeat perception was associated with higher health anxiety as measured by two questionnaires whereas perception of NSCFs was not significantly related to any facet of health anxiety. In addition, we found a bias to overestimate NSCFs in people with heightened health anxiety. Limitations: Because a sample of college students served as participants, the generalization of the findings is limited and further studies in patients with the diagnosis of hypochondriasis are necessary. Conclusions: The findings of both interoceptive paradigms suggest that health anxiety is not associated with better but rather with less accurate and biased interoceptive sensitivity. Probably, not a heightened interoceptive sensitivity but rather the bias in overestimating harmless somatic cues is more relevant for the maintenance of health anxiety. Our results are in line with recent research in other somatoform disorders. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Heart rate variability and self-control : a meta-analysis

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been suggested as a biological correlate of self-control. Whereas many studies found a relationship between HRV at rest and self-control, effect sizes vary substantially across studies in magnitude and direction. This meta-analysis evaluated the association between HRV at rest and self-control in laboratory tasks, with a particular focus on the identification of moderating factors (task characteristics, methodological aspects of HRV assessment, demographics). Overall, 24 articles with 26 studies and 132 effects (n=2317, mean age=22.44, range 18.4-57.8) were integrated (random effects model with robust variance estimation). We found a positive average effect of r=0.15, 95% CI [0.088; 0.221], p<0.001 with a moderate heterogeneity (I(2)=56.10%), but observed evidence of publication bias. Meta-regressions did not reveal significant moderators. Due to the presence of potential publication bias, our results have to be interpreted cautiously