Attentional biases in individuals at high risk of developing hypertension

Essential hypertension is the most important risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases, which are a major cause of death in industrialized societies. In several projects, we develop continuous measurement and analysis of blood pressure reactions to emotional stimuli among individuals at high risk of developing hypertension. We also examine whether deficient attentional mechanisms and neural abnormalities in prefrontal-limbic pathways are related to magnified blood pressure reactions to aversive stimuli. The use of cutting-edge measurement methods and advanced analysis is expected to provide new data necessary for understanding how the brain controls reactions to aversive information in health and disease.

Relevant Literature:

Wiener, A., Goldstein, P., Doenyas, K., & Okon-Singer, H. (2021). Abnormalities in emotional and motor reactions among young prehypertensive individuals: employing continuous blood pressure analysis. Journal of Hypertension.

Wiener, A., Rohr, C. S., Naor, N., Villringer, A., & Okon-Singer, H. (2020). Emotion Regulation in Essential Hypertension: Roles of Anxiety, Stress, and the Pulvinar. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

​Wiener, A., Goldstein, P., Alkoby, O., Doenyas, K., & Okon‐Singer, H. (2020). Blood pressure reaction to negative stimuli: Insights from continuous recording and analysis. Psychophysiology, 57(4), e13525.