Cardiac Autonomic Dynamics Differentially Shape Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind: Evidence From Respiratory Manipulation.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a fundamental component of social cognition that enables individuals to infer others' mental states and predict their behavior. Although ToM may be shaped by cardiac autonomic dynamics, the psychophysiological mechanisms underlying its cognitive (CToM) and affective (AToM) components remain unclear. Prior research has predominantly emphasized cardiac parasympathetic (PNS) modulation, whereas the role of cardiac sympathetic (SNS) activation-particularly under experimental manipulation-remains underexplored. The present study experimentally manipulated cardiac autonomic states using paced breathing to examine their effects on CToM and AToM performance and their associations with tonic and phasic cardiac autonomic dynamics. A total of 175 healthy young adults were assigned to fast-paced breathing (FPB; SNS-dominant), slow-paced breathing (SPB; PNS-enhanced), or control conditions. Cardiac autonomic indices were continuously recorded, and ToM performance was assessed following each manipulation. Results showed that manipulation checks confirmed distinct cardiac autonomic profiles without inducing emotional changes. FPB-characterized by increased SNS activation along with PNS withdrawal-selectively impaired CToM performance, whereas AToM remained unaffected, and no differences were observed between SPB and control conditions. Tonic analyses indicated that reciprocal cardiac PNS-SNS activity was positively associated with CToM performance, whereas better AToM was primarily related to higher cardiac PNS activity. At the phasic level, greater SNS reactivity uniquely predicted poorer CToM performance, whereas poorer AToM was associated with greater coordinated PNS-SNS modulation. The convergence between experimental manipulation and phasic patterns strengthens the interpretability of these associations. These findings provide direct evidence that cardiac autonomic dynamics differentially shape cognitive and affective components of ToM. Specifically, heightened cardiac SNS reactivity appears to disrupt cognitively demanding mental state inference, whereas overall cardiac PNS-SNS stability supports affective mental state attribution. This study advances an integrative framework linking dynamic, state-dependent cardiac autonomic processes to distinct components of social cognition.