Heart-evoked potential to assess interoception in women with high emotion dysregulation

This thesis investigates cardiac interoception through heartbeat-evoked potentials (HEPs) in a sample of women with high emotional dysregulation. Interoception—the ability to perceive internal bodily signals—is increasingly recognised as a key factor in emotional processing. HEPs, measured using EEG and ECG, offer a non-invasive neural index of interoceptive awareness. We aim to compare HEP amplitudes between women with high versus low emotional dysregulation, and to explore correlations with psychological variables such as anxiety and affective lability assessed through selected self-report questionnaires. Data collection included a 64-channel EEG and ECG during resting state on 42 women participants. HEPs will be analysed using time-locked averaging relative to ECG R-peaks. We expect individuals with higher emotional dysregulation will show altered HEP amplitudes and autonomic markers (e.g., HRV), indicating disrupted interoceptive processing. This research may contribute to understanding the physiological basis of emotion dysregulation and its potential interoceptive biomarkers.