Heartbeat evoked potential differences between anxiety disorders

This study examined differences in interoceptive processing between individuals with social anxiety and generalized anxiety, using the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) as a neural marker of attention to internal bodily signals. HEPs were recorded during a heartbeat counting task to assess the degree of interoceptive attention. Consistent with prior research linking elevated HEP amplitude to perceived internal threat, results showed that individuals with high social anxiety exhibited significantly greater HEP amplitudes compared to those with generalized anxiety and low anxiety. In contrast, participants with high generalized anxiety did not show increased HEP activity, suggesting distinct neural processing mechanisms across anxiety subtypes. These findings highlight the importance of differentiating between types of anxiety in interoception research and suggest that social anxiety may involve heightened sensitivity to internal cues, which may have implications for diagnosis and treatment.