Cardiac sympathetic-vagal activity initiates a functional brain–body response to emotional arousal

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 119; no. 21; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Candia-Rivera, Diego, Catrambone, Vincenzo, Thayer, Julian F., Gentili, Claudio, Valenza, Gaetano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 24.05.2022
• Subjects: Arousal; Arousal - physiology; Autonomic nervous system; Biological Sciences; Brain; Brain - physiology; Cardiovascular system; Computational neuroscience; EEG; EKG; Electrocardiography; Electroencephalography; Emotional factors; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Heart - innervation; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Information transfer; Nervous system; Psychophysiology; Sensory neurons; Social Sciences; Vagus nerve; Vagus Nerve - physiology; causal theory; heart-rate variability; emotion; EEG; brain–heart interplay

A century-long debate on bodily states and emotions persists. While the involvement of bodily activity in emotion physiology is widely recognized, the specificity and causal role of such activity related to brain dynamics has not yet been demonstrated. We hypothesize that the peripheral neural contr...