Studies showed that introversion is the strongest personality trait related to perceived social isolation (loneliness), which can predict various complications beyond objective isolation such as living alone. Lonely individuals are more likely to resort to social media for instantaneous comfort, but it is not a perpetual solution. Largely negative implications including poorer interpersonal relationship and depression were reported due to excessive social media usage. Conversational task is an established intervention to improve verbal communication, cognitive and behavioral adaptation among lonely individuals. Despite that behavioral benefits have been reported, it is unclear if they are accompanied by objective benefits underlying physiological changes. Here, we investigate the physiological signals from 28 healthy individuals during a conversational task. Participants were ranked by trait extraversion, where greater introversion is associated with increased susceptibility to perceived social isolation as compared to participants with greater extraversion as controls. We found that introverts had a greater tendency to be neurotic, and these participants also exhibited significant differences in task-related electrodermal activity (EDA), heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) as compared to controls. Notably, resting state HRV among individuals susceptible to perceived loneliness was below the healthy thresholds established in literature. Conversational task with a stranger significantly increased HRV among individuals susceptible to isolation up to levels as seen in controls. Since HRV is also elevated by physical exercise and administration of oxytocin hormone (one form of therapy for behavioral isolation), conversational therapy among introverts could potentially confer physiological benefits to ameliorate social isolation and loneliness. Our findings also suggest that although the recent pandemic has changed how people are interacting typically, we should maintain a healthy dose of social interaction innovatively.

中文翻译：

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会话任务增加了易感于感知到的社会隔离的个体的心率变异性

研究表明，内向是与感知到的社会孤立（孤独）相关的最强人格特质，它可以预测客观孤立之外的各种并发症，例如独居。孤独的人更有可能求助于社交媒体以获得即时的舒适感，但这不是永久的解决方案。据报道，由于过度使用社交媒体，会产生很大的负面影响，包括人际关系变差和抑郁。会话任务是一项既定的干预措施，以改善孤独个体之间的语言交流、认知和行为适应。尽管已经报道了行为益处，但尚不清楚它们是否伴随着潜在的生理变化的客观益处。这里，我们调查了 28 名健康人在对话任务中的生理信号。参与者按特质外向性排序，与作为对照的外向性更强的参与者相比，更大的内向性与感知到的社会隔离的易感性有关。我们发现内向者更倾向于神经质，与对照组相比，这些参与者在与任务相关的皮肤电活动 (EDA)、心率 (HR) 和心率变异性 (HRV) 方面也表现出显着差异。值得注意的是，易感孤独感的个体的静息状态 HRV 低于文献中建立的健康阈值。与陌生人的对话任务显着增加了易被隔离的个体的 HRV，达到了对照组中所见的水平。由于体育锻炼和使用催产素激素（行为隔离的一种治疗形式）也会提高 HRV，因此内向者之间的对话疗法可能会带来生理上的好处，以改善社交孤立和孤独感。我们的研究结果还表明，尽管最近的大流行改变了人们通常的互动方式，但我们应该以创新的方式保持健康的社交互动。