Emotional Coherence under Hypoxia and Aging: A Registered Report on Subjective–Physiological Coupling

Emotional episodes involve partially coordinated changes in experience and autonomic activity, and subjective–physiological coherence appears to vary with aging and physiological stress. Physiological accounts of emotional aging propose that age-related changes in autonomic and interoceptive function reduce the informativeness of bodily signals, weakening the coupling between feelings and bodily responses. We will test this proposal in three groups ( N = 90): younger adults in normoxia, younger adults under acute hypoxia (FiO 2 < 12%), and older adults in normoxia. Participants will view emotional images and provide trial-wise ratings of affect and approach motivation while heart rate and skin conductance are recorded. Emotional coherence will be indexed by within-person correlations between bodily intensity ratings and autonomic reactivity. We will test hypotheses that aging and hypoxia reduce coherence and that hypoxic younger adults resemble older adults. Secondary analyses will examine whether heart-rate variability and interoceptive accuracy account for group differences in coherence.