Electrodermal Activity and Heart Rate Variability During Exposure Fear Scripts Predict Trait-Level and Momentary Social Anxiety and Eating-Disorder Symptoms in an Analogue Sample

Abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are characterized by high levels of fear and effectively treated with exposure therapy. Physiological markers of fear can elucidate how exposure influences psychophysiological processes underlying psychopathology. In the current study (N = 109), we measured heart rate variability, heart rate, and electrodermal activity (EDA) with wearable sensors during ED fear, SAD fear, and neutral scripts. Bayesian ridge-regression models tested physiological features during these scripts as predictors of momentary and trait ED and SAD symptoms and determined which physiological features most strongly predicted symptoms. Across models, prediction error was low, which indicates high predictive accuracy. The most salient predictors were EDA features during the neutral script. These findings suggest physiological markers can accurately predict ED and SAD symptoms. This research highlights the utility of wearable sensor technology as a complement to exposure therapy and informs research, assessment, and treatment for anxiety-based disorders.