Cardiac defensive reactions and orienting responses correspond to virtual withdrawal behavior choices in a virtual T-maze.

Trait or stimulus valence related differences in heart rate change have often been investigated in psychophysiological research. However, the influence of different behavioral responses during motivational contexts on cardiac response patterns has been neglected so far. In this manuscript, HR change during movement via joystick during the negatively valent motivational condition of a virtual T-maze was investigated in two studies. Concerning the behavior, two specific avoidance response types could be identified in previous studies: a backwards withdrawal and an approach to safety. HR change and skin conductance response were hypothesized to be differentially related to these response patterns. For HR changes, the proposed difference was found. Participants facing the safety zone during their avoidance showed cardiac responses associated with the defensive response. In contrast, participants facing the negative entity of the virtual T-maze during their backwards withdrawal yielded cardiac responses associated with orienting reactions. Interestingly, these differences were found independently of the stimuli used in the two paradigms (monster vs. man). These findings lead to the conclusion that the execution of different behavioral responses during motivational conditions is an important factor in analyzing psychophysiological patterns, because they change according to the executed behavior and the linked visual and motivational properties.