Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109207
Thomas C. Tsai , Suzanne C. Segerstrom , Annie T. Ginty , Charles S. Carver , Youngmee Kim
{"title":"The individual and dyadic roles of neuroticism and conscientiousness in cardiac autonomic functioning of patients with cancer and their spousal caregivers","authors":"Thomas C. Tsai , Suzanne C. Segerstrom , Annie T. Ginty , Charles S. Carver , Youngmee Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109207","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109207","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Poor cardiovascular health is prevalent among patients with cancer and their spousal caregivers, partly due to cancer-related stress. This study examined the roles of neuroticism and conscientiousness, two stress regulatory tendencies, in heart rate variability (HRV; RMSSD) among patient-caregiver dyads. Patients newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer (<em>N</em> = 141, 56.33 years old, 34 % female, 64.54 Hispanic) and their spousal caregivers (<em>N</em> = 139, 55.46 years old, 62.77 % female, 62.77 % Hispanic) completed personality measures individually and underwent a laboratory stress task together, while cardiac functioning was continuously recorded. When adjusting for respiration rate, patients’ higher neuroticism was associated with their own higher RMSSD at rest, and caregivers’ higher conscientiousness was associated with their own poorer RMSSD recovery from stress. Dyadically, caregivers’ higher neuroticism was linked with patients’ slower RMSSD recovery. When respiration rate was not adjusted, the association involving patients’ neuroticism became non-significant while several associations involving caregivers’ conscientiousness became significant. Supplemental models involving respiration rate and heart rate found that one’s higher conscientiousness was linked to one’s own lower respiration rate at rest, greater respiratory and heart rate reactivity, and slower respiratory recovery. Additionally, one’s neuroticism was associated with partner’s blunted heart rate reactivity. Overall, patients’ and caregivers’ neuroticism served differential roles in patients’ cardiac health, whereas caregivers’ conscientiousness was deleterious for their own cardiac stress recovery. These results highlighted the unique roles within and between self-regulation tendencies in dyads newly affected by cancer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109207"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-01-28DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109206
Hannah S. Savage , Beth F. Longley , Wilson P.H. Lim , Camilla L. Nord , James Kilner , Sarah N. Garfinkel
{"title":"The staircase-heartbeat discrimination task (S-HDT)","authors":"Hannah S. Savage , Beth F. Longley , Wilson P.H. Lim , Camilla L. Nord , James Kilner , Sarah N. Garfinkel","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cardiac interoceptive accuracy has received significant attention in the growing field of interoception. Despite this, there are clear, and openly discussed limitations to the tasks commonly used to assess this dimension, including questionable construct validity, unjustified assumptions, and that, depending on the task, few participants exceed chance performance. To address this, we propose a novel version of the heartbeat discrimination task. The Staircase-Heartbeat Discrimination Task (S-HDT) addresses the aforementioned limitations and facilitates a more nuanced understanding of individual differences in cardiac interoceptive accuracy. Herein we (i) detail the experimental null, (ii) demonstrate the recoverability of known point of subjective simultaneity and accuracy values by passing simulated data through our analysis pipeline and (iii) highlight the feasibility and tolerability of this task in a young adult sample (n = 42; mean age = 22.57 +/- 4.55; 64.28 % women). In our sample, we show the S-HDT has greater sensitivity and specificity than the original HDT, and enables the prediction of accuracy as well as individuals point of subjective simultaneity. With a running time of ∼30 min, fully automated, open source, and freely available code (via GitHub), this task is accessible to further our understanding of cardiac interoception across multiple interoceptive domains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109206"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146095033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interoceptive accuracy and cognitive reappraisal modulate affective and physiological reactivity to social stress","authors":"Lorenz Rapp , Lorena Desdentado , Gernot Hauke , Eva-Maria Messner , Matthias Messner , Olga Pollatos","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Accurate detection of bodily signals may facilitate spontaneous emotion regulation (ER) outcomes, when effective ER strategies are available. We tested whether interoceptive accuracy (IAcc) and Cognitive Reappraisal jointly predict affective and physiological responses to social stress.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A total of 83 participants underwent a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (mTSST). IAcc was measured with the heartbeat counting task and Cognitive Reappraisal was measured with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). State anxiety, heart rate (HR), and skin conductance level (SCL) were recorded.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The mTSST increased HR, SCL, and state anxiety. Changes in state anxiety were predicted by an interaction of IAcc × Cognitive Reappraisal: among individuals with lower habitual use of Cognitive Reappraisal, higher IAcc was associated with a stronger increase in state anxiety, whereas at average or higher levels of reappraisal, IAcc was not reliably related to changes in state anxiety. Further, higher IAcc was associated with a smaller increase in HR during the mTSST. Changes in SCL were not related to IAcc, Cognitive Reappraisal, nor their interaction.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Higher IAcc could increase the salience of bodily arousal during social stress, potentially leading to greater distress when habitual use of Cognitive Reappraisal is below average. From a predictive coding perspective, this pattern could reflect unresolved high-precision prediction errors that amplify negative affect. In addition, the negative association between IAcc and HR reactivity during social stress may indicate an autonomic counter-regulatory process buffering against excessive cardiac stress responses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109214"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146168108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109208
Jeffrey E. Stokes , Lisa Jessee , Heather R. Farmer
{"title":"Grief or Relief? Dyadic loneliness and biological health after mid-to-late life widowhood","authors":"Jeffrey E. Stokes , Lisa Jessee , Heather R. Farmer","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109208","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109208","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Loneliness is a serious public health issue among the aging population, yet it is not merely an individual but also a <em>relational</em> experience. Indeed, research has shown that having a lonely partner is a “stress generator” with implications for individuals’ own biopsychosocial health. Further, widowhood is a stressful and harmful experience in mid and later life, yet no research to date has examined whether the <em>removal</em> of chronic stress posed by a lonely partner via widowhood may be associated with <em>improved</em> biological health following loss. Using blood-based biomarker data from 13,205 continuously partnered and 343 recently widowed adults across two waves of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE; 2013–2015), we examine whether a dyadic partner’s loneliness pre-loss is associated with three biological markers of health as well as self-rated health among recent widow(er)s post-loss; whether this differs in comparison with continuously partnered persons over the same timeframe; and whether associations varied by age. Results indicated that (a) deceased dyadic partner’s pre-loss loneliness was associated with lower (i.e., healthier) post-loss levels of Cystatin C, a marker of kidney function, among the recently widowed; (b) deceased dyadic partner’s pre-loss loneliness was associated with lower (i.e., healthier) post-loss triglyceride levels, a marker of cardiovascular health, but with poorer self-rated health among recent widow(er)s in midlife, yet these effects were attenuated with age; and (c) deceased dyadic partner’s pre-loss loneliness was not associated with post-loss levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation. Interaction terms indicated that these effects were unique to the recently widowed, and did not apply to the continuously partnered. Overall, findings cohere with dyadic biopsychosocial approaches to health, as well as with a role histories approach to studying life transitions. We discuss implications for theory and future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109208"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146097672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109215
Xiaorong Gan , Linwei Yu , Shuyi Li , Yi Luo , Yi Hu
{"title":"Participant dyads making group decisions in social uncertainty adopt the exploitative strategy and show enhanced inter-brain synchrony","authors":"Xiaorong Gan , Linwei Yu , Shuyi Li , Yi Luo , Yi Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109215","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109215","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>People in socially uncertain circumstances often polarize their decision-making behaviors when making decisions as a group rather than as individuals. One may think the group tends to explore new possibilities in social uncertainties, while the other believes they are more adept at exploiting the successful experience acquired before. To test these hypotheses, we recruited participants of dyads to perform a trust game while their brain activities were recorded using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyper-scanning technique. Participant dyads playing the game as a group versus as individuals demonstrated the increased investments under gain conditions but not under loss conditions. Computational modeling attributed the increased investment to the exploitation strategy, namely, relying more on experience from positive feedback. Brain-to-brain analysis revealed that the strategy was associated with the dyads' enhanced interpersonal brain synchrony (IBS) in the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ), which was also correlated with the increased group investment. Further, both the learned strategy and the enhanced IBS occurred from the middle to the end of playing the trust game. In sum, to make group decisions in social uncertainty, participant dyads adopt an exploitation strategy by leveraging past successful experiences, along with the enhanced interpersonal rTPJ synchrony between them. Our study provides new insight into cognitive and inter-brain processes associated with of group decision-making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109215"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146183499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109079
Carolin Dudschig , Fritz Günther , Ian Grant Mackenzie
{"title":"Cognitive plausibility of count-based versus prediction-based word embeddings: A large-scale N400 study","authors":"Carolin Dudschig , Fritz Günther , Ian Grant Mackenzie","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109079","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109079","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The N400 is a central electrophysiological event-related-potential (ERP) marker thought to reflect meaning comprehension in the human brain. Typically, the N400 is larger when a word does not fit into a specific context (e.g., I drink coffee with cream and <em>dog</em>). Thus, one core factor determining the N400 amplitude is thought to be the predictability of a word within its context. Here, both long-term memory associations and short-term discourse context influence the N400 amplitude. In the present study, we used the N400 as a marker to investigate the cognitive plausibility of semantic similarity measures. Specifically, we compared traditional count-based measures to modern machine learning tools such as prediction-based word embeddings to assess whether prediction-based techniques potentially encapsulate learning mechanisms that align more closely with psychological plausibility. To do so, we examined the relationship between different similarity measures (LSA, HAL and word2vec) and the N400 amplitude in a large scale re-analysis of previously published EEG data. Model comparison suggested a superiority of HAL over LSA as a predictor in explaining single-trial N400 amplitudes, and also a benefit of prediction-based methods over count-based methods. This result aligns with the notion that such models might in the future provide further insights into how the brain navigates language understanding.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109079"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144669043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2025-12-20DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109187
Hugo Fleming , Annalise Whines , Poppy Whelehan , Isabel Lau , Katie Gallacher , Sara Z. Mehrhof , Camilla L. Nord
{"title":"Metabolic interoceptive rewards shape affect, but not action","authors":"Hugo Fleming , Annalise Whines , Poppy Whelehan , Isabel Lau , Katie Gallacher , Sara Z. Mehrhof , Camilla L. Nord","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109187","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109187","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Central to survival is our ability to learn that the sensory properties of food are associated with metabolic interoceptive signals (e.g., changing blood glucose). These signals influence cognition and brain activity, shaping the hedonic evaluation of flavours, and activating reward-related brain regions such as the ventral striatum. However, there remains a substantial gap in understanding how metabolic rewards shape behaviour, particularly in humans. We hypothesised that metabolic interoceptive rewards may function as Pavlovian stimuli, eliciting a Pavlovian approach bias which modulates everyday instrumental decision-making via Pavlovian-instrumental transfer. To test this, in a double-blind design, over one week, participants (N = 53) consumed two novel, flavoured drinks: one containing the tasteless carbohydrate maltodextrin, and one a calorie-free control. In a subsequent lab session, participants completed a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer task, performing a points-based instrumental decision-making task while tasting calorie-free versions of each flavour. Participants also rated liking and wanting of the flavours. As predicted, flavours previously experienced with calories were rated as significantly more liked after conditioning. However, counter to our hypothesis, the calorie-associated flavours did not enhance instrumental responding; computational modelling instead indicated a suppression of action. These findings reveal a dissociation between hedonic preferences and action: while metabolic rewards shaped liking, they did not invigorate behaviour. This highlights the complexity of interoceptive reinforcement learning and points to the need for further work to understand how and when internal metabolic expectations shape action.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109187"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145812459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-02-07DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109213
Ruoyu Niu, Rixin Tang
{"title":"Decoding cross-modality sensorimotor synchronization: Unveiling a general network using functional and efficiency networks","authors":"Ruoyu Niu, Rixin Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109213","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109213","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Auditory is the dominant modality for sensorimotor synchronization, but this dominance disappears with visual continuous stimuli. Whether the intrinsic processing of sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) is modality-specific or cross-modal remains unclear. A synchronization-continuation tapping task was conducted with varying modalities (visual/auditory) and temporal structures (discrete/continuous) while recording fNIRS signals over a set of lateral cortical regions. We constructed fNIRS-based functional connectivity networks from HbO time series (pairwise Pearson correlations among channels, sparsity-thresholded), and quantified graph metrics including small-worldness and betweenness centrality. Across conditions, the networks showed small-world organization, and FP, dlPFC, and pre-SMA exhibited relatively higher betweenness centrality within the sampled cortical network, consistent with hub-like roles. Exploratory Granger causality analyses further suggested a directional connectivity pattern from sensory regions to IPL and to these hub-like nodes, with reciprocal interactions among the hub-like nodes. Overall, our findings characterize a hub-like cortical subnetwork within the regions sampled by fNIRS that may support cross-condition coordination during SMS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109213"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146151401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-01-03DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109188
Miriam J. Hofmann , Andreas Mokros , Sabrina Schneider
{"title":"Is the psychopathic heart beating for fear? A psychophysiological investigation of fear experience in psychopathy","authors":"Miriam J. Hofmann , Andreas Mokros , Sabrina Schneider","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109188","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109188","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>The <em>Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis</em> posits that individuals with elevated psychopathy traits experience fear-inducing stimuli less negatively and more positively than others. Building on prior findings that fear enjoyment primarily relates to the core affective–interpersonal dimension of psychopathy, the present study investigated the link between core psychopathy traits and both self-reported and physiological responses to fear-inducing stimuli.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Participants (<em>N</em> = 119; 68.9 % female; <em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 35.04 years) prescreened for psychopathy and fear enjoyment completed self-report measures and viewed fear-inducing, excitement-inducing, and neutral first-person videos in a controlled laboratory setting while their heart rate was recorded. They provided appraisal ratings for each video and descriptions of their fear experience. Analyses included linear mixed models, repeated measures ANOVA, correlation, and regression analyses.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Higher core psychopathy trait levels were associated with less negative and more positive evaluations of fear-inducing clips, greater use of positive fear descriptors, and increased heart rate during fear exposure. Higher heart rate predicted positive appraisals of fear videos in individuals with high levels of primary psychopathy but predicted negative appraisals of fear videos in low-psychopathic individuals.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The findings provide preliminary support for the assumption that individuals high in core psychopathy traits may interpret arousal in fear-evoking situations more joyful than other persons, in line with the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109188"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological PsychologyPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-02-02DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109205
Bernadette F. Denk , Maria Meier , Sebastian Ocklenburg , Julian Packheiser , Stella Wienhold , Nina Volkmer , Raphaela J. Gaertner , Elea S.C. Klink , Stephanie J. Ashcraft , Annika B.E. Benz , Jens C. Pruessner
{"title":"Coupled hearts – effect of partner stress on cardiac synchronization","authors":"Bernadette F. Denk , Maria Meier , Sebastian Ocklenburg , Julian Packheiser , Stella Wienhold , Nina Volkmer , Raphaela J. Gaertner , Elea S.C. Klink , Stephanie J. Ashcraft , Annika B.E. Benz , Jens C. Pruessner","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109205","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109205","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Physiological synchrony (PS), i.e., the alignment of physiological changes across individuals, is an established phenomenon characterizing social interactions. The degree to which interaction partners synchronize may depend on various relationship- and situation-specific factors. Stress profoundly affects behavior and cognition, but its effect on PS is still unknown. In a preregistered study, we thus investigated the effect of stress on PS in <span><math><mi>N</mi></math></span> <span><math><mo>=</mo></math></span> 75 romantic couples (mean age <span><math><mo>=</mo></math></span> 22.66 <span><math><mrow><mo>±</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>.</mo><mn>99</mn></mrow></math></span>, 51% female). Partners were separated upon arrival in the laboratory. In <span><math><mrow><mi>n</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>38</mn></mrow></math></span> dyads (<em>experimental condition</em>), one partner underwent the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Task (SECPT) while the other partner completed a non-stressful control task; in <em>control dyads</em>, both partners underwent the non-stressful task. After completing the intervention separately, partners were reunited and participated in a non-verbal synchronization task, a walking task, and an unstructured social interaction. PS was operationalized by calculating cross-wavelet power of partners’ heart rate trajectories. We hypothesized that PS would be altered in couples with one stressed partner compared to the non-stressed control group. Across all interaction tasks, PS was lower in dyads in the experimental than in the control condition. Our findings indicate that stress disrupts PS. In the discussion, we present possible mechanisms for this effect. Our results highlight that stress is not only an intra- but also an interpersonal phenomenon affecting interpersonal physiological processes and social interactions beyond the acute stressor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 109205"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146121076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}