1. INTRODUCTION HYPOTHESES MEASURES Cont. RESULTS Correspondence to: kneppm@mountunion.eduPresented at the 26 th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, San Francisco, CA., May 2014 RESULTS Erika M. Druzina, Erin R. Krafka, Samantha R. Stilson, Kevin M. Joyner, & Michael M. Knepp University of Mount Union Fifty students (36 female) took part in a physiological recording as they watched a neutral video, completed a 3 minute cognitive stressor task, and finally during a 3 minute recovery period. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire measures trait worry, a characteristic often associated with anxiety (Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990). PARTICIPANTS & MEASURES CONCLUSIONS The Impact of Trait Worry, Emotion Regulation, and Temperament on Heart Rate Variability Using a mind-body approach and following the polyvagal theory, worry, emotion regulation, and temperament are examined to see effects on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Stress, a component of anxiety, has been related to ANS imbalances (Mitchell & Shapiro, 1991), and this study takes this further with an examination of heart rate variability (HRV). Previous research between personality and cardiovascular system has focused on vagal control of the heart; this study will instead investigate anxiety’s role--how you worry, the cognitive side of worry, and heart rate effects. Investigating HRV and vagal tone with anxiety can help lead to a better understanding between emotions and cardiac health. H1: Worry was expected to impact vagal tone; high trait worriers with low emotional reappraisal whould have lower vagal tone across all three phases. H2: Low trait worriers with high emotional reappraisal would have highest vagal tone across all three phases. Low trait worriers who were also in high emotion reappraisal had higher rMSSD than the other three groups. (F(1, 36)=4.238, p<.05) (Figure 1) Low trait worriers with high emotion reappraisal had significantly higher frequency power. (F (1,36) = 5.119, p <.05). (Figure 2) From the ATQ, associative sensitivity had the strongest relationship to three different vagal tone markers. (all p values <.05). The Adult Temperament Questionnaire, originally developed by Derrberry and Rothbart (1988), examines negative affects, extraversion/surgency, and effortful control. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales were used to control significant state impacts (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire examines emotional experience and emotional expression (Gross & John, 2003). Significant results found that low trait worriers with high emotion reappraisal had higher vagal tone than the other three groups. Understanding vagal tone can lead to a better insight to cardiovascular health--one of the largest causes of morbidity and mortality in the US. A close look at this can not only lead to a better understanding between emotional effects and cardiac health, but also sets the stage for temperament and autonomic control for adolescents and adults in future research. Figure 1 Figure 2 Procedure The cognitive stressor task was a subtraction task in which participants started at 3,000 and counted backwards by seven as fast as they could. Recovery period was simply a resting period where participants sat quietly with eyes closed. Upon completion of the physiological recording period, participants completed the following: Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), Adult Temperament Questionnaire (ATQ), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) in that order.