Mental and Social Aspects
In the field of psychophysiology, there is interest in HRV. For example, HRV is related to emotional arousal. High-frequency (HF) activity has been found to decrease under conditions of acute time pressure and emotional strain and elevated state anxiety, presumably related to focused attention and motor inhibition. HRV has been shown to be reduced in individuals reporting a greater frequency and duration of daily worry. In individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), HRV and its HF component (see below) is reduced compared to controls whilst the low-frequency (LF) component is elevated. Furthermore, unlike controls, PTSD patients demonstrated no LF or HF reactivity to recalling a traumatic event.
The Polyvagal Theory derives from a psychophysiologic imputation of importance to HRV. This theory emphasizes the role of heart rate variability in understanding the magnitude and nature of vagal outflow to the heart. This theory decomposes heart rate variability based on frequency domain characteristics with an emphasis on respiratory sinus arrhythmia and its transmission by a neural pathway that is distinct from other components of HRV. There is anatomic and physiological evidence for a polyvagal control of the heart. Several publications outline the Polyvagal Theory in detail.
Read more about this topic: Heart Rate Variability
Famous quotes containing the words mental and, mental, social and/or aspects:
“For universal love is as special an aspect as carnal love or any of the other kinds: all forms of mental and spiritual activity must be practiced and encouraged equally if the whole affair is to prosper. There is no cutting corners where the life of the soul is concerned....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“What a man calls his “conscience” is merely the mental action that follows a sentimental reaction after too much wine or love.”
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950)
“If twins are believed to be less intelligent as a class than single-born children, it is not surprising that many times they are also seen as ripe for social and academic problems in school. No one knows the extent to which these kind of attitudes affect the behavior of multiples in school, and virtually nothing is known from a research point of view about social behavior of twins over the age of six or seven, because this hasn’t been studied either.”
—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
“Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.”
—John Simon (b. 1925)