Julian F Thayer

Julian F Thayer
  • The Ohio State University

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737
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52,710
Citations
Current institution
The Ohio State University

Publications

Publications (737)
Article
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Normotensive African Americans (AAs) show attenuated vascular responses and reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability compared to European Americans (EAs). Few studies have used diverse measures to examine differences in macrovascular function and structure in individuals with a family history of CV disease (CVD). We assessed 150 AAs (Mage, 23.57 ±...
Article
Full-text available
Deleterious adiposity (e.g., obesity) is considered an inflammatory condition that increases risk for cardiovascular diseases. Lower heart rate variability (HRV), an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease risk, is linked with higher levels of adiposity and inflammation. However, indices of adiposity vary in their strength of association wi...
Article
Full-text available
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a key cause of mortality worldwide. Prior work has found that the association between stress and cardiovascular outcomes is moderated by emotion regulation (ER) and expressive suppression (i.e., emotion inhibition), which is linked with adverse outcomes (i.e., inflammation) in Western (Americans) but not Eastern...
Article
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Exposure therapy has been shown to be useful for the treatment of anxiety disorders. However, there are individual differences in the extent to which this intervention is effective in reducing symptoms, and a substantial number of patients may experience a return of fear (ROF). The factors associated with successful therapy outcomes are an importan...
Article
The concept of general arousal has a long history in emotion research. However, the concept is more complex and nuanced than is generally appreciated. In this comment, we note some of the early conceptualizations of arousal and how they might comport with more modern representations of the construct. Importantly, we show how modern conceptualizatio...
Article
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Background Higher order regulation of autonomic function is maintained by cortical and subcortical interconnected regions within the brain, collectively referred to as the central autonomic network (CAN) (Benarroch, 1993). Despite the well‐established relationship between autonomic dysfunction and AD (Femminella et al., 2014) the relationship betwe...
Article
Objective Slow-paced breathing (SPB) with prolonged exhalation is assumed to stimulate vagal reflexes, which is represented by increased heart rate variability (HRV) values. However, most trials were conducted in healthy participants. We sought to evaluate the feasibility of SPB in hospitalized patients with confirmed bilateral COVID-19 pneumonia w...
Article
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The identification of reliable biomarkers of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) responsiveness is a key challenge both at the clinical and preclinical level. Vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), a surrogate measure of cardiac vagal efferent activity, is an ideal candidate. Yet, the effects of taVNS on vmHRV remain...
Article
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Resting heart rate variability (HRV) is typically higher in those with better emotional well-being. In the current study, we examined whether changes in resting HRV mediated changes in negative emotions during a 7-week clinical trial of HRV biofeedback. Younger and older adults were randomly assigned to one of two daily biofeedback practices for 5...
Poster
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Background: Functional post-COVID symptoms are rising, with an estimated prevalence of 51% in community cohorts. Autonomic dysfunction is a primary cause of symptoms like fatigue, depression, anxiety, somatic disorders, pain, and general health issues. However, clinical treatment options are limited, and the path to diagnosis is lengthy and complex...
Presentation
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Symposia IV-2: MEASURE FOR MEASURE: COMPARATIVE UTILITY OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY INDICES OF CARDIAC VAGAL CONTROL Slow-paced breathing (SPB) is a long-known, noninvasive, and inexpensive method to stimulate vagal fibers known to directly decrease heart rate (HR) and increase indicators of HR variability (HRV). The aim of the present analysis is t...
Article
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Executive functions (EF) decline with age and this decline in older adults with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) may be influenced by heart rate variability (HRV), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and physical fitness. Understanding these relationships is important for tailored treatments in this population. In this study, 51 adults with...
Article
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The study explores whether racial identity and appearance-based trustworthiness judgments can affect recognition of pain in medical students differing in levels of resting heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of parasympathetic control of the heart. After undergoing HRV assessment, 68 medical students (37 females) participated in a dynamic pain...
Article
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Blood pressure variability (BPV) is emerging as an important risk factor across numerous disease states, including cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative disease in older adults. However, there is no current consensus regarding specific use cases for the numerous available BPV metrics. There is also little published data supporting the ability to re...
Article
Full-text available
Background A recent meta-analysis revealed that vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV; a biomarker of emotion regulation capacity) significantly decreases in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. As two follow-up studies suggest, these vmHRV decreases are driven primarily by increased luteal progesterone (P4). However, analyses also rev...
Article
Full-text available
Background Higher order regulation of autonomic function is maintained by the coordinated activity of specific cortical and subcortical brain regions, collectively referred to as the central autonomic network (CAN). Autonomic changes are frequently observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia, but no studies to date have investigated whether p...
Article
Full-text available
Study objective African Americans (AAs) show early signs of vascular dysfunction paired with elevated blood pressure (BP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR), which is thought to underlie their increased rates of cardiovascular health complications relative to European Americans (EAs). AAs paradoxically have higher cardiac vagal tone, indexed by...
Preprint
Full-text available
Blood pressure variability (BPV) is emerging as an important risk factor across numerous disease states, including cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative disease in older adults. However, there is no current consensus regarding specific use cases for the numerous available BPV metrics. There is also little published data supporting the ability to re...
Article
Full-text available
Background In healthy people, the “fight-or-flight” sympathetic system is counterbalanced by the “rest-and-digest” parasympathetic system. As we grow older, the parasympathetic system declines as the sympathetic system becomes hyperactive. In our prior heart rate variability biofeedback and emotion regulation (HRV-ER) clinical trial, we found that...
Article
Objective Sleep quality is an important health-protective factor. Psychosocial factors, including attachment orientation, may be valuable for understanding who is at risk of poor sleep quality and associated adverse health outcomes. High attachment anxiety is reliably associated with adverse health outcomes, while high attachment avoidance is assoc...
Article
Objective Vagus nerve functioning, as indexed by high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), has been implicated in a wide range of mental and physical health conditions, including sleep complaints. This study aimed to test associations between HF-HRV measured during sleep (sleep HF-HRV) and subjective sleep complaints 4 years later. Methods O...
Article
Higher self‐reported rumination, a common form of trait perseverative cognition, is linked with lower resting heart rate variability (HRV), which indicates poorer cardiac function and greater disease risk. A meta‐analysis and systematic review indicated that in samples with fewer European Americans, the association of rumination with both heart rat...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Increased blood pressure variability (BPV) is a risk factor for cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and neurodegeneration, independent of age and average blood pressure, particularly in apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) carriers. However, it remains uncertain whether BPV elevation is a cause or a consequence of vascular brain injury, or to wha...
Article
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Given the culture of racism in the United States, Black Americans are often required to use culturally compelled coping (CCC) styles, such as emotional and behavioral restraint and vigilance. Although CCC is adaptive in the face of pervasive racialized stress, it may still negatively impact mental health outcomes, like depression. Studies have foun...
Article
In the context of bereavement, little is known about the mechanisms that differentiate normative adjustment patterns from those that may indicate potential psychopathology. This study aimed to replicate and extend previous work by (1) characterizing the trajectories of depressive symptoms from 3 to 12 months after the loss of a spouse, (2) examinin...
Article
As an arousal hub region in the brain, the locus coeruleus (LC) has bidirectional connections with the autonomic nervous system. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based measures of LC structural integrity have been linked to cognition and arousal, but less is known about factors that influence LC structure and function across time. Here, we tested t...
Article
Full-text available
We present data from the Heart Rate Variability and Emotion Regulation (HRV-ER) randomized clinical trial testing effects of HRV biofeedback. Younger (N = 121) and older (N = 72) participants completed baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T1-weighted, resting and emotion regulation task functional MRI (fMRI), pulsed continuous arteri...
Article
Objective: This study assessed whether different types of childhood maltreatment (i.e., abuse vs. neglect) had differential relationships with heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). Additionally, this study tested the indirect effect of maltreatment subtypes on adult mood-related psychopathology via HRV, and whether these r...
Article
Full-text available
Background Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a frequent and severe disorder among older adults. For older adults with GAD the effect of the recommended treatment, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), is reduced. Physical exercise (PE) may enhance the effect of CBT by improving cognitive function and increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic...
Chapter
Despite broad interest in how children and youth cope with stress and how others can support their coping, this is the first Handbook to consolidate the many theories and large bodies of research that contribute to the study of the development of coping. The Handbook's goal is field building - it brings together theory and research from across the...
Article
Full-text available
Prior studies suggest that sex differences in emotion regulation (ER) ability contribute to sex disparities in affective disorders. In behavioral studies, females rely more on maladaptive strategies to cope with emotional distress than males. Neuroimaging studies suggest that males more efficiently regulate emotion than females by showing less pref...
Article
Background Genetic mutations affecting β‐amyloid (Αβ) production suggest that decreasing Αβ levels in healthy adults could prevent AD. However, evidence for behavioral interventions that decrease Αβ levels is lacking. The current study examined whether heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback affects plasma Αβ levels. This intervention involves bre...
Article
Full-text available
The present study aimed to investigate sex differences in measures of cardiac chronotropy and heart rate variability (HRV) in 132 young adult wild-type Groningen rats (n = 45 females). Electrocardiographic signals were recorded for 48 h in freely moving rats to quantify heart rate (HR) and inter-beat interval (IBI) as measures of cardiac chronotrop...
Article
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Following a stressful life event, there is considerable variation in how individuals respond and adapt. Multiple models of risk and resilience show that adverse childhood experiences may be associated with an individual's response to stress later in life. While there is considerable support that early adversity can sensitize the stress response sys...
Article
Full-text available
Slow paced breathing via heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback stimulates vagus-nerve pathways that counter noradrenergic stress and arousal pathways that can influence production and clearance of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related proteins. Thus, we examined whether HRV biofeedback intervention affects plasma Αβ40, Αβ42, total tau (tTau), and pho...
Preprint
Full-text available
Using data from a clinical trial, we tested the hypothesis that daily sessions modulating heart rate oscillations affect older adults’ volume of a region-of-interest (ROI) comprised of adjacent hippocampal subregions with relatively strong locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenergic input. Younger (N=106) and older adults (N=56) completed five weeks of hear...
Article
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Previous research suggests that implicit automatic emotion regulation relies on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, most of the human studies supporting this hypothesis have been correlational in nature. In the current study, we examine how changes in mPFC-left amygdala functional connectivity relate to emotional memory biases. In a rando...
Preprint
Full-text available
We present data from the Heart Rate Variability and Emotion Regulation (HRV-ER) randomized clinical trial testing effects of HRV biofeedback. Younger (N = 121, ages 18-31, 61 female) and older (N = 72, ages 55-80, 45 female) participants completed baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T1-weighted, functional MRI (fMRI), pulsed continu...
Article
Measures of heart rate variability (HRV) as a predictor of risk of disease and mortality have been investigated from various perspectives for more than six decades. The aim of the present comprehensive meta-analysis is to examine eight different HRV parameters to determine their association with all-cause and cardiac mortality. A total of 32 studie...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose A characteristic problem occurring in COVID-19 is excessive elevations of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IL-6 and CRP) which are associated with worse clinical outcomes. Stimulation of the vagally-mediated cholinergic anti-inflammatory reflex by slow paced breathing with prolonged exhalation may present a clinically relevant way to reduce...
Article
Childhood adversity (CA) is associated with increased risk for physical and mental health problems, with alterations in vagal regulation (an aspect of autonomic functioning indexed by vagally-mediated heart rate variability [vmHRV]) implicated as a mechanism. Three-level meta-analyses were conducted to synthesize research on the relationship betwee...
Article
Heart rate variability is a robust biomarker of emotional well-being, consistent with the shared brain networks regulating emotion regulation and heart rate. While high heart rate oscillatory activity clearly indicates healthy regulatory brain systems, can increasing this oscillatory activity also enhance brain function? To test this possibility, w...
Article
Full-text available
Acute stress activates the brain’s locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenaline system. Recent studies indicate that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based measure of LC structure is associated with better cognitive outcomes in later life. Yet despite the LC’s documented role in promoting physiological arousal during acute stress, no studies have examined...
Article
Full-text available
Previous research suggests that higher heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with better cognitive function. However, since most previous findings on the relationship between HRV and cognitive function were correlational in nature, it is unclear whether individual differences in HRV play a causal role in cognitive performance. To investigate w...
Article
Full-text available
The negative emotions generated following stressful life events can increase one’s risk of depressive symptoms and promote higher levels of perceived stress. The process model of emotion regulation can help distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies to determine who may be at the greatest risk of worse psychological...
Article
The Neurovisceral Integration Model posits a link between resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) and cognitive control. Empirical support for this link is mixed, potentially due to coarse performance metrics such as mean response time (RT). To clarify this issue, we tested the relationships between resting vmHRV and refined estimat...
Article
Full-text available
Previous studies indicate that the structure and function of medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are associated with heart rate variability (HRV). Typically, this association is assumed to reflect the PFC's role in controlling HRV and emotion regulation, with better prefrontal structural integrity supporting greate...
Article
Full-text available
Identification of individual differences in drug use is warranted, as a history of use is associated with future drug problems. Such drug use is thought to disrupt inhibitory and motivation networks involved in emotion regulation (ER). Higher resting heart rate variability (HRV), a biomarker of effective inhibitory abilities, is associated with les...
Article
Full-text available
Stress-related exhaustion symptoms have a high prevalence which is only likely to increase further in the near future. Understanding the physiological underpinnings of exhaustion has important implications for accurate diagnosis and the development of effective prevention and intervention programs. Given its integrative role in stress-regulation, t...
Article
Full-text available
Previous research suggests that excessive negative self-related thought during mind wandering involves the default mode network (DMN) core subsystem and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, which involves slow paced breathing to increase HRV, is known to promote emotional well-being. However, it remains unclear...
Article
Full-text available
Background The study aimed to investigate the link between burnout symptoms and prosocial behaviour, as well as the role of acute stress and vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) on this association. Methods Seventy men were randomly assigned to either the stress or the control condition of the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G...
Poster
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Abstract 1031: Background: In a previous exploratory study, there was evidence of differences in the reactivity of the trigeminocardial reflex between psychosomatic patients (PP) and healthy controls. This reflex can be elicited by cold stimulation of the trigeminal nerve on the forehead (so-called cold face test; CFT) and measured by heart rate va...
Preprint
Full-text available
Acute stress robustly activates the brain’s noradrenergic system, the hub of which is the locus coeruleus (LC). Recent studies have indicated that structural integrity of the LC, assessed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is associated with better cognitive outcomes in later life. However, no studies have examined whether MRI-assessed LC in...
Article
Full-text available
There is a continuing debate concerning “adjustments” to heart period variability [i.e., heart rate variability (HRV)] for the heart period [i.e., increases inter-beat-intervals (IBI)]. To date, such arguments have not seriously considered the impact a demographic variable, such as gender, can have on the association between HRV and the heart perio...
Article
The present study tested whether cardiac vagal activity—which is known to play a vital role in social cognition and engagement—predicted the impact of faces of other ethnicity on selective attention under load. Based on the neurovisceral integration theory, we hypothesized that participants with higher resting heart rate variability (HRV) would exh...
Article
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Researchers generally agree that when up- and down-regulating emotion, control regions in the prefrontal cortex turn up or down activity in affect-generating brain areas. However, the 'affective dial hypothesis' that turning up and down emotions produces opposite effects in the same affect-generating regions is untested. We tested this hypothesis b...
Poster
Full-text available
This study analyzed gender differences in depression and heart rate variability (HRV) in undergraduate samples. Additionally, we looked at the ability of emotion self-regulation between gender and how this relates to self-perceived depression and HRV.
Presentation
Full-text available
This study analyzed gender differences in depression and heart rate variability (HRV) in undergraduate samples. Additionally, we looked at the ability of emotion self-regulation between gender and how this relates to self-perceived depression and HRV.
Preprint
Full-text available
As an arousal hub region in the brain, the locus coeruleus (LC) has bidirectional connections with the autonomic nervous system. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based measures of LC structural integrity have been linked to cognition and arousal, but less is known about factors that influence LC structure and function across time. Here, we tested t...
Article
Full-text available
Cardiac inter-beat intervals (IBIs) reflect autonomic functioning and self-regulatory abilities and are often investigated by traditional time- and frequency domain analyses. These analyses investigate IBI fluctuations across relatively long time series. The similarity graph algorithm is a nonlinear method that analyses segments of IBI time series...
Article
Full-text available
Higher vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), reflecting vagal activity as indexed by heart function and lower stress vulnerability, is associated with higher perceived social support. Seeking social support is an adaptive stress response, and evolutionary theories suggest that females use this strategy more than males. The current study...
Preprint
Full-text available
Importance: Vagus nerve stimulation via slow-paced breathing could serve as adjuvant therapeutic approach to reduce excessive inflammation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Objective: Does a slow-paced breathing technique increasing vagal activity reduce Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients hospitalized with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia...
Article
Elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been repeatedly identified in a subgroup of offenders that displays severe antisocial behavior; establishing physiological markers may help improve early identification and treatment efforts. This study examines to what extent baseline-resting heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) can be used...
Preprint
Full-text available
Heart rate variability is a robust biomarker of emotional well-being, consistent with the shared brain networks regulating emotion regulation and heart rate. While high heart rate oscillatory activity clearly indicates healthy regulatory brain systems, can increasing this oscillatory activity also affect brain function? To test this possibility, we...
Preprint
Prior studies on emotion regulation identified a set of brain regions specialized for generating and controlling affect. Researchers generally agree that when up- and down-regulating emotion, control regions in the prefrontal cortex turn up or down activity in affect-generating areas. However, the assumption that turning up and down emotions produc...
Article
Full-text available
Future deep space astronauts must maintain adequate nutrition despite highly stressful, isolated, confined and dangerous environments. The present case-study investigated appetite regulating hormones, nutrition status, and physical and emotional stress in a space analog condition: an explorer conducting a 93-day unsupported solo crossing of Antarct...
Article
Full-text available
Background: A paradoxical profile of greater elevated sympathetic vasoconstriction (increased total peripheral resistance, TPR) and increased vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV) -the so-called Cardiovascular Conundrum- has been reported in African Americans (AAs) both at rest and in response to orthostasis. Whereas some authors have attri...
Article
Full-text available
Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), a measure of the parasympathetic nervous system’s control over the heart, is often negatively related to maladaptive emotional outcomes. Recent work suggests that quadratic relationships involving these factors may be present; however, research has not investigated gender differences in these nonline...
Article
Full-text available
Traditionally, impedance derived measures of cardiac autonomic balance (CAB) and regulation (CAR) are calculated using indices of heart rate variability (HRV) that primarily reflect parasympathetic nervous system activity (e.g., high-frequency HRV | HF-HRV) and pre-ejection period (PEP; a systolic time interval and measure of sympathetic activity)....
Article
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Theoretically, panic disorder and agoraphobia pathology can be conceptualized as a cascade of dynamically changing defensive responses to threat cues from inside the body. Guided by this trans-diagnostic model we tested the interaction between defensive activation and vagal control as a marker of prefrontal inhibition of subcortical defensive activ...
Article
During pregnancy, there are significant physiological changes to support a healthy fetus. Parasympathetic activity normatively decreases across pregnancy, and psychological stress can promote even further decreased heart rate variability (HRV). This study evaluated (1) changes in vagally-mediated HRV from pregnancy to postpartum, (2) changes in vag...
Article
Full-text available
Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is thought to index top–down control processes in emotion regulation. According to the Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress (GUTS), resting vmHRV indexes top–down resources that are needed to inhibit subcortical threat circuits, which is important for context‐appropriate affective responding. Althoug...
Article
African American (AA) individuals are at a greater risk for the development of cardiovascular complications, such as hypertension, compared to European Americans (EAs). Higher vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV) is typically associated with lower blood pressure (BP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR). However, research has yet to exami...
Article
Full-text available
Worry is a central process in a wide range of psychopathological and somatic conditions. Three studies (N = 856) were used to test whether a subscale composed of five items of the most commonly used trait anxiety questionnaire, Spielberger’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait version (STAI-T), is appropriate to measure worry. Results showed that t...
Article
Full-text available
The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) is a well-validated performance measure of trait emotional awareness (EA), which is associated with psychological and physical problems. EA is, however, expected to vary over time and we aimed to adapt the LEAS to permit the measurement of EA in daily life as a function of momentary state. Twenty-five...
Article
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Darwin emphasized the intimate relationship between the brain and the heart over 150 years ago. Healthy aging is associated with significant changes in both the brain and the heart. The changes between these, the two most important organs of the body, are linked via the vagus nerve. In this review we examine the normative changes with aging and the...
Article
Full-text available
New tools for non-specific primary prevention strategies covering somatic and mental health in occupational medicine are urgently needed. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the capacity of the body to adapt to environmental challenges and of the mind to regulate emotions. Hence, a 24 h-measurement of HRV offers a unique possibility to quantify t...
Article
Full-text available
Non-medical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) is at the heart of the opioid epidemic in the United States. Although chronic opioid use is commonly accompanied by deficits in social functioning, little is known about the impact of chronic NMPOU on social cognitive functions. Social neuroscience models suggest that empathy activates similar or even equ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: Elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Decreased vagally-mediated heart rate variability has previously been prospectively linked with increased blood pressure; however, to date, no such prospective data exist regarding this relationship among Blacks. Materials and methods: We examin...
Article
Full-text available
In recent clinical practice, a biomarker of vagal neuroimmunomodulation (NIM), namely the ratio of vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) and CRP, was proposed to index the functionality of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. This study aims to transfer and extend the previous findings to two general population-based samples to expl...
Article
Psychophysiological research methods allow important insights into normative and pathological functioning of the human organism. This position paper briefly reviews existing studies, investigating the psychophysiological concomitants of personality pathology, with an emphasis on developmental aspects. Focussing on measures, indexing autonomic nervo...

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