Perceived social isolation, or loneliness, has been repeatedly linked to numerous adverse health outcomes. Much effort has been directed towards elucidating the mechanisms underlying its effects on the cardiovascular system, which may explain the deleterious effects on morbidity and mortality. It has been previously suggested that perceived social isolation can impair effective parasympathetic regulation and physiological adjustment to the demands of the social environment. Thus, the present study aimed at investigating the causal impact of an induction of loneliness on vagal activity during social stimuli processing. In the study, participants (N = 119) were led to anticipate either a future filled with satisfying relationships (Future Belong) or a lonely life (Future Alone). Then, they were asked to complete an implicit emotion regulation task while their cardiovascular activity was recorded.

In the Future Belong group, a pattern of vagal suppression was observed between the resting period and task completion, which was followed by vagal recovery during the post-task resting period. However, in the Future Alone group, a change from the baseline HRV was observed only at the beginning of the task, but not during its consecutive stages. Moreover, in participants who believed in the given FA feedback, the initial vagal suppression was absent. These findings provide evidence that even a brief induction of loneliness can result in a blunted vagal suppression during social information processing. It can be hypothesized that the lack of the ability to regulate vagal activity while processing social cues may potentially underlie problems with social engagement and self-control.

感知到的社会孤立或孤独感反复与许多不利的健康结果联系在一起。许多努力致力于阐明其对心血管系统影响的潜在机制，这可以解释对发病率和死亡率的有害影响。以前有人提出，感知到的社会孤立会损害有效的副交感神经调节和对社会环境需求的生理调整。因此，本研究旨在调查在社会刺激处理过程中孤独感对迷走神经活动的因果影响。在这项研究中，参与者 (N = 119) 被引导去预期充满令人满意的关系 (Future Belong) 或孤独的生活 (Future Alone) 的未来。然后，

在 Future Belong 组中，在休息期和任务完成之间观察到迷走神经抑制的模式，随后在任务后休息期迷走神经恢复。然而，在 Future Alone 组中，仅在任务开始时观察到相对于基线 HRV 的变化，而不是在其连续阶段。此外，在相信给定 FA 反馈的参与者中，最初的迷走神经抑制不存在。这些发现提供的证据表明，即使是短暂的孤独感也会导致社交信息处理过程中迷走神经抑制减弱。可以假设，在处理社会线索时缺乏调节迷走神经活动的能力可能是社会参与和自我控制问题的潜在根源。