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Trait rumination moderates the effect of mentation type on heart rate responses to stressor recall

Abstract Ruminative thought about stressors has been linked to extended post-stressor cardiovascular activation, which in turn predicts negative long-term health outcomes. Past work indicates that the nature of thought (mental imagery or verbal thought) may shape cardiovascular responses. Some evidence suggests that individuals with rumination tendencies may be especially vulnerable to stress-related cardiovascular activation, although it is unclear to what extent type of thought (imagery or verbal thought) influences this relationship. This study included a laboratory stressor followed by a stressor recall task in which mentation type was manipulated. Healthy undergraduate students (N = 138; 47% female) underwent a speech stressor and then were randomly assigned to complete a stressor recall task using either mental imagery or verbal-linguistic mentation. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were measured throughout. Self-report trait rumination was measured at baseline. Results indicated that trait rumination and mentation type interacted to predict HR. Individuals with high trait rumination scores had significantly greater increases in HR during the verbal-linguistic conditions compared to the mental imagery conditions. There were no mentation type differences in the low trait ruminators, no differences in BP and no main effects of trait rumination. Results suggest that mentation type may be a key in understanding the relationship between rumination and cardiovascular activation, especially for trait ruminators.