Can cognitive impairments explain cardiovascular emotional dampening associated with elevated blood pressure?

Abstract

Cardiovascular Emotional Dampening (CED) refers to reduced recognition of facial and vocal emotions among individuals with elevated blood pressure (BP). While CED is well established, the contribution of attentional and working memory deficits has rarely been examined. This cross-sectional study tested whether BP-related differences in emotion recognition remain after statistically adjusting for attention and working memory, and whether cognitive performance itself differs across BP groups. Ninety-six participants aged 18-55 years were categorised as hypotensives, normotensives, prehypertensives, or hypertensives. They completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and tasks assessing attention, working memory, and emotion recognition. High BP groups showed significantly poorer emotion recognition accuracy (but not response time), even after controlling for cognitive and demographic covariates. Hypertensives also exhibited greater attentional and working memory deficits than normotensives. These findings support CED as an emotion recognition impairment rather than a byproduct of cognitive deficits. Future studies should consider cognitive confounds to clarify mechanisms underlying CED.