Jacek Kolacz

The Ohio State University | OSU

Evidence has accrued to show that autonomic and adrenocortical systems act in coordination to facilitate responses to environmental opportunities and threats. In the current study, we used cluster analysis to examine whether individual differences in patterns of joint baseline activity among the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the auton...

Background Joint hypermobility (JH) is associated with autonomic nervous system dysregulation and functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPDs). Understanding the neurophysiological processes linking these conditions can inform clinical interventions. Autonomic activity regulates gastrointestinal (GI) sensorimotor function and may be a key mechanism....

Caregiver voices may provide cues to mobilize or calm infants. This study examined whether maternal prosody predicted changes in infants' biobehavioral state after the still face, a stressor in which the mother withdraws and reinstates social engagement. Ninety-four dyads participated in the study (infant age 4-8 months). Infants' heart rate and re...

Objective Autonomic regulation of organ and tissues may give rise to disruptions of typical functions. The Body Perception Questionnaire Short Form (BPQ-SF) includes items that were developed to assess autonomic symptoms in daily life. This pair of studies aimed to establish previously unexplored psychometric properties of the BPQ-SF, develop norma...

Background: The pathophysiology underlying cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) remains undefined. Scant data and distinct clinical features point to altered autonomic nervous system function. Autonomic signaling can be non-invasively assessed via cardiac indices of parasympathetic vagal regulation, which is reduced in children with disorders of gut-bra...

Online surveys are a popular tool in sex research and it is vital to understand participation bias in these surveys to improve inferences. However, research on this topic is limited and out of date given the increase in online survey methodology and changes in sexual attitudes. This study examined whether demographics and sexual abuse and assault h...

Research shows the disruptive effects of early maltreatment on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning in adulthood. Psychotherapists tend to report higher rates of personal experience with early maltreatment, but also fewer mental problems and disturbances in adulthood, as compared to other professions. However, the role of the ANS in these...

Abstract: Background Trauma history is linked with both sexual dysfunction and altered autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. Because sexual response relies on coordination of the ANS, a system compromised by traumatic stress may lead to impaired response, providing a mechanism for the connection between trauma and sexual dysfunction. Past resea...

Reports an error in "A new measure of feeling safe: Developing psychometric properties of the Neuroception of Psychological Safety Scale (NPSS)" by Liza Morton, Nicola Cogan, Jacek Kolacz, Calum Calderwood, Marek Nikolic, Thomas Bacon, Emily Pathe, Damien Williams and Stephen W. Porges (Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy,...

A growing body of research has highlighted the adverse impact of COVID‐19 stressors on health and social care workers' (HSCWs) mental health. Complementing this work, we report on the psychosocial factors that have had both a positive and negative impact on the mental well‐being of HSCWs during the third lockdown period in Scotland. Using a cross‐s...

Objective: Psychological safety is increasingly recognized as central to mental health, wellbeing and posttraumatic growth. To date, there is no psychometrically supported measure of psychological safety combining psychological, physiological and social components. The current research aimed to develop and establish the neuroception of psychologic...

Childhood maltreatment history may influence autonomic reactivity and recovery to stressors. Hypothetically, the maltreatment history may contribute to a retuned autonomic nervous system that is reflected in a novel metric, vagal efficiency (VE), designed to assess the functional efficiency of vagal cardioinhibitory pathways on heart rate. We explo...

Background Because there is a relationship between mental health (MH) and medical adversity and autonomic dysregulation, we hypothesized that individuals infected with COVID-19 would report greater current autonomic reactivity and more MH difficulties (emotional distress, mindfulness difficulties, and posttraumatic stress). We also hypothesized tha...

The growing population of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) often have lifelong experience of dealing with potentially traumatic health crises and medical uncertainty whilst facing increased vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The COVID-19 pandemic presents additional challenges for this population including increased r...

Rapid studies have highlighted the adverse mental health impact of COVID-19 on health and social care workers (HSCWs). Complementing this work, we report on the psychosocial factors that have helped HSCWs adapt to the adversities associated with COVID-19 and protect staff wellbeing in Scotland. The ENACT study collected data from HSCWs (n= 1364) in...

Objective: Psychological safety is increasingly recognised as central to mental health, wellbeing and post-traumatic growth. To date, there is no psychometrically supported measure of psychological safety combining psychological, physiological and social components. The current research aimed to develop and establish the neuroception of psychologic...

Background: Psychological safety is increasingly recognised as central to mental health and wellbeing. The Polyvagal Theory offers a ‘Science of Safety’ which can help inform clinical practice to promote wellbeing, resilience and post-traumatic growth, whilst mitigating trauma. To date, there is no standardised measure of psychological safety compr...

Caregiver voices may provide cues to mobilize or calm infants. This study examined whether maternal prosody predicted changes in infants' biobehavioral state during the Still Face, a stressor in which the mother withdraws and reinstates social engagement. Ninety-four dyads participated in the study (infant age 4-8 months). Infants' heart rate and r...

Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, determining hospital demands has become a vital priority. Heart rate variability (HRV) has been linked to both the presence of viral infection and its severity. We investigate the possibility of using HRV parameters in comparison to other clinical parameters for predicting the hospital length of stay...

Background/Objective The purpose of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the Body Perception Questionnaire Short Form (BPQ-SF) into Italian and to assess its psychometric properties in a sample of Italian subjects. Methods A forward-backward method was used for translation. 493 adults were recruited for psychometric analysis. Structural validi...

Body awareness disorders and reactivity are mentioned across a range of clinical problems. Constitutional differences in the control of the bodily state are thought to generate a vulnerability to psychological symptoms. Autonomic nervous system dysfunctions have been associated with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Though interocepti...

Abstract Background: Adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) have lifelong experience of dealing with potentially traumatic health crises and show increased vulnerability to anxiety, depression and PTSD. The COVID-19 pandemic presents a further challenge for the CHD population who face greater risk of serious complications from the virus, psycho...

Self-regulation in early childhood encompasses both “top down,” volitional processes, as well as the “bottom up” activity of three neurophysiological systems: the parasym- pathetic nervous system (PNS), the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and the hy- pothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In this paper we briefly review the structure, function,...

Background: The spread of the COVID-19 virus presents an unprecedented event that rapidly introduced widespread life threat, economic destabilization, and social isolation. The human nervous system is tuned to detect safety and danger, integrating body and brain responses via the autonomic nervous system. Shifts in brain-body states toward danger r...

Background Maturation of multiple neurobehavioral systems, including autonomic regulation, is altered by preterm birth. The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term effects of Family Nurture Intervention (FNI) in the NICU on autonomic regulation of preterm infants and their mothers. Method A subset of infants and mothers (48% of infant...

Introduction: To determine whether pretreatment vagal efficiency (VE), respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and heart period can predict pain improvement with auricular neurostimulation in pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders. Methods: A total of 92 adolescents with functional abdominal pain disorders underwent a 4-week randomized, double-blin...

Maltreatment adversely impacts the development of children across a host of domains. One way in which maltreatment may exert its deleterious effects is by becoming embedded in the activity of neurophysiological systems that regulate metabolic function. This paper reviews the literature regarding the association between childhood maltreatment and th...

Early separation of preterm infants from their mothers has adverse, long-term neurodevelopmental consequences. We investigated the effects of daily maternal separation (MS) of rat pups from postnatal days 2–10 (PND2–10) on neurobehavioural responses to brief isolation at PND12 compared with pups receiving controlled handling without MS. Ultrasonic...

Objective: A growing body of literature documents sexual problems following maltreatment and traumatic experience, but the mechanisms of these effects are poorly understood. The autonomic nervous system coordinates typical and threat-reactive functions throughout the body, including those of reproductive organs. We examined whether relations betwe...

A range of psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post‐traumatic stress disorder frequently co‐occur with functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Risk of these pathologies is particularly high in those with a history of trauma, abuse, and chronic stress. These scientific findings and rising awareness within the healthcare profes...

Infant directed speech is marked by exaggerated frequency modulation and strong high frequency power, features that may provide physiological cues for mobilization or calming (Porges and Lewis, 2010; Kolacz et al., 2018). We examined whether these features predicted changes in infant biobehavioral state during the Still Face Paradigm, a stressor in...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00145.].

Abnormal sensory processing is one of the core characteristics of the fragile X phenotype. Studies of young children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and the FMR1 premutation have shown sensory challenges as early as infancy and into early childhood. This study sought to examine differences in sensory difficulties in children with an FMR1 premutation...

Individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS), especially those co-diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), face many sensory processing challenges. However, sensory processing measures informed by neurophysiology are lacking. This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of a parent/caregiver report, the Brain-Body Center Sens...

Chronic diffuse pain disorders, such as fibromyalgia, and functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs), such as irritable bowel syndrome, place substantial burden on those affected and on the medical system. Despite their sizable impact, their pathophysiology is poorly understood. In contrast to an approach that focuses on the correlation between...

The purpose of this study was to explore the biobehavioral correlates of adaptive behavior in the context of a standardized laboratory-based mission-relevant challenge [the Soldier Performance and Effective, Adaptable Response (SPEAR) task]. Participants were 26 healthy male volunteers (M = 34.85 years, SD = 4.12) with active military duty and lead...

Body awareness and reactivity dysfunction are characteristic of a range of psychiatric disorders. Although the neural pathways communicating between the body and brain that contribute to these experiences involve the autonomic nervous system, few research tools for studying subjective bodily experiences have been informed by these neural circuits....

This study examined whether music education was associated with improved performance on measures of academic achievement and executive functions. Participants were 265 school-age children (Grades 1 through 8, 58% female, and 86% African American) who were selected by lottery to participate in an out-of-school program offering individual- and large-...

This study examined individual differences in the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis with regard to age and cumulative risk during challenging laboratory tasks administered at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months. Saliva samples were collected from a majority-minority sample of N = 185 children (57% African American, 50% female) prior to...

Objective: Poor behavioral self-regulation in the first two decades of life has been identified as an important precursor of disease risk in adulthood. However, physiological regulation has not been well-studied as a disease risk factor before adulthood. We tested whether physiological regulation at age two, in the form of vagal regulation of card...

Background Physical inactivity is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Many patterns of physical activity involvement are established early in life. To date, the role of easily identifiable early-life individual predictors of PA, such as childhood temperament, remains relatively unexplored. Here, we tested whether childhood temperamental activit...

PURPOSE: To determine if measures of childhood behavior (CB) are related to self-reported physical activity (PA) in adolescents. METHODS: At the time of analysis, 133 subjects (58% female, 15yr BMI 24.07±6.54) from a larger longitudinal study had completed the PA questionnaire (Godin Leisure-time Exercise) at age 15 yr. At ages 7 and 10 yr, caregiv...