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The mindful attention and awareness scale is associated with lower levels of high‐frequency heart rate variability in a laboratory context
Author(s) -
Watford Tanya S.,
O’Brien William H.,
Koerten Hannah R.,
Bogusch Leah M.,
Moeller Mary T.,
Sonia Singh R.,
Sims Tracy E.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.13506
Subject(s) - stressor , psychology , mindfulness , context (archaeology) , heart rate , heart rate variability , trait , psychophysiology , clinical psychology , reactivity (psychology) , cognition , audiology , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , blood pressure , paleontology , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science , biology , programming language
Trait mindfulness has been associated with well‐being. A key component of trait mindfulness is intentional attention and awareness which is most commonly measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS). This study investigated the relationship between the MAAS and cardiovascular (HF‐HRV, heart rate) reactivity to two laboratory stressors that evoked different patterns of change in heart rate (HR). One stressor (viewing a video of a surgery) evoked HR deceleration while the other stressor (mental arithmetic) evoked HR acceleration. Undergraduate students completed the MAAS and were then exposed to the two stressors while ECG (electrocardiography) was recorded. Findings support the reliability of the stressors to induce expected differential cardiovascular responses and explicate the role of parasympathetic activation. Further, a main effect for MAAS was observed indicating that across laboratory conditions, persons scoring higher on the MAAS had lower HF‐HRV relative to persons scoring lower on the MAAS. These findings suggest that higher levels of intentional attention and awareness in a laboratory context might promote parasympathetic withdrawal because these participants were more vigilant, experienced higher cognitive load, and detected more threat cues. Implications for the MAAS and cardiovascular responses to stress are discussed.