Heart rate deceleration reflects expectation violation during reaching

A recent study explored the relationship between heart rate (HR) deceleration and both movement errors and expectation violations during reaching tasks. Utilizing a robotic manipulandum, researchers examined male and female participants to differentiate the roles of movement outcome and expectation violation on HR responses. Previous research had established that HR deceleration naturally occurs following visuomotor perturbations that cause movement errors.

However, this study found that when contextual cues predicted the outcome of an upcoming movement, HR deceleration began during movement preparation, rather than after the error occurred. This suggests that expectations play a significant role in HR responses. Furthermore, regardless of the severity or negative nature of the movement outcome, HR deceleration was only linked to unexpected movement outcomes.

By modifying target width to allow successful movements despite visual-motor rotations, researchers determined that HR deceleration was more closely tied to task errors than sensory prediction errors. These results indicate that HR responses during movement are more closely related to violations of movement expectations than the errors themselves.

The study provides a fresh perspective on autonomic reactions during sensorimotor processing and proposes that HR could be a physiological indicator of expectation-related processing during movement.