Realtion of heart rate control to heartbeat perception.

The relation of heartbeat perception to voluntary control of heart rate (HR) and to learning of enhanced HR control during feedback was studied in three experiments. In Experiment I heartbeat perception was unrelated to voluntary control of HR but was negatively correlated with HR learning. Experiments II and III showed that heartbeat perception was unrelated to either initial voluntary control or learning and suggested that sampling error accounted for the negative correlation in Experiment I. Experiment I also demonstrated that learned increases in HR are retained for at least 10 weeks following feedback training. Autonomic Perception Questionnaire scores were not predictive of voluntary HR control or learning.