When Looking at Their Own Faces, Men Forget Everything
In an experiment involving 15 healthy men, scientists at HSE University investigated how different phases of the cardiac cycle influence the excitability of the motor cortex when participants viewed either their own photograph or the faces of strangers. The researchers found that when participants looked at their own image, the brain’s response to signals from the heart was weaker, meaning that the influence of cardiac activity on the motor cortex decreased. This finding came contrary to expectations, as self-focused attention was thought to enhance the brain's sensitivity to internal bodily signals. The study has been published in Frontiers in Signal Processing.
The brain constantly receives information about the body's internal state, including the heartbeat, breathing, and the functioning of blood vessels and the stomach. These signals help people notice sensations such as tension, hunger, fatigue, and excitement, and contribute to bodily self-awareness.
Heartbeat is one of these signals. It is particularly well suited for research because the heart beats continuously, and its cycle can be precisely monitored using an electrocardiogram (ECG). During systole, the heart contracts and pumps blood into the circulation, while during diastole, it relaxes and fills with blood. These two phases are processed differently by the brain: during systole, receptors in the blood vessels become more active, sending stronger signals about changes in blood pressure. As a result, the cardiac cycle can influence brain activity, including that of the motor cortex, the region responsible for controlling movement.
Researchers at HSE University set out to test whether viewing one’s own portrait could strengthen the effect of heart rate on the motor cortex. The study authors hypothesised that since one’s photo is associated with the sense of self, self-esteem, and self-focused attention, viewing it might heighten awareness of internal bodily signals, including the heartbeat.
The study involved 15 healthy men aged 18 to 31, who viewed photographs of themselves and portraits of strangers and, after each image, rated various personal characteristics—for example, how calm, sociable, attractive, or friendly the person appeared—on a scale from 0 to 5. Only positive traits were included in the experiment, and, interestingly, participants rated themselves higher than strangers on several of these characteristics. These tasks were designed to ensure that participants carefully examined each face.
During the experiment, the researchers recorded participants’ heart rates using ECG and also applied transcranial magnetic stimulation—a non-invasive technique that stimulates a specific area of the cerebral cortex with a brief magnetic pulse. The authors developed HarPULL, an algorithm to deliver stimulation at precisely defined points in the cardiac cycle. The system monitored ECG signals in real time and triggered a magnetic pulse immediately after the R peak, as well as 250 or 500 milliseconds later. The stimulation was applied to the region of the motor cortex responsible for arm movements, and the resulting muscle responses were recorded using electromyography. The stronger the response, the greater the excitability of the neural pathway connecting the motor cortex to the muscle at the moment of stimulation. In addition, participants completed an interoceptive accuracy task: they counted their heartbeats without checking the pulse, and the researchers compared their estimates with the actual number of heartbeats measured by ECG.
The results were unexpected. Normally, during the systolic (contraction) phase of the cardiac cycle, the motor cortex shows a stronger response to stimulation. This pattern was also observed in the experiment when participants viewed the faces of strangers. However, when they looked at their own photographs, this effect was reduced: the cardiac cycle phase had a weaker influence on the motor cortex response. The difference was most pronounced 250 milliseconds after the R peak, during systole, when cardiac signals typically exert a stronger influence on motor cortex activity.
Milana Makarova
'What we expected to find was that viewing one’s own photograph would increase attention to internal bodily signals and thus strengthen the connection between the heart and the motor cortex. However, instead of sending a "pay attention to yourself" signal, one’s own photo acted as a strong external stimulus that redirected attention toward the appearance of the face, the impression it created, and the characteristics that could be attributed to it. Perhaps this shift in attention reduced the brain’s ability to process internal signals, including the heart rate,' explains Milana Makarova, Research Assistant at the HSE Centre for Cognition and Decision Making.
It was found that participants who were more accurate at perceiving their heartbeat showed a stronger cardiac influence on the motor cortex response. In the future, this finding could help improve transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols synchronised with the cardiac cycle: researchers may be able to take a person’s interoceptive accuracy into account or assess whether training aimed at improving interoception can enhance the effects of stimulation.
The authors emphasise that this was a pilot study, and its findings need to be replicated in a larger group of participants. Nevertheless, the research demonstrates that the relationship between the heart, the brain, and self-perception is context-dependent, and that focusing attention on oneself does not always enhance the perception of internal bodily signals.
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