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The involvement of heart rate variability in the updating process of internal models during emotion recognition of others

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Eita Hirayama¹ (), Mai Sakuragi^1,2, Yuri Terasawa³; ¹Graduate School of Human Relations, Keio University, ²Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, ³Department of Psychology, Keio University

The accurate recognition of emotions of others constitutes a fundamental component of successful social interaction. Previous research has extensively examined the processes by which individuals infer others’ emotional states from external cues such as facial expressions and vocal tone. These studies have consistently demonstrated that higher levels of parasympathetic nervous activity are associated with greater accuracy in recognizing emotions of others. However, little is known about how internal models or representations of others’ emotional states are updated through experience. The present study employed trial-by-trial feedback on participants’ emotion judgments to investigate the relationship between the updating of internal models and autonomic nervous activity as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). In addition, to examine whether the influence of HRV on internal model updating is specific to social contexts, a strictly controlled non-social control condition was included.　 At present, data from 22 participants have been collected, preliminary findings suggest a general trend whereby, although higher parasympathetic activity indexed by RMSSD during rest did not predict greater accuracy in emotion recognition, this relationship emerged during the task. Participants showed successful learning within each block, indicating that they learned based on the feedback provided. This pattern is consistent with previous research. Further analyses will clarify the dynamic interplay between autonomic regulation and internal model updating in social emotion processing.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Person perception