Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), vagal tone and biobehavioral integration: Beyond parasympathetic function.

Autor: Grossman P; Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: pgrossman0@gmail.com.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Biological psychology [Biol Psychol] 2024 Feb; Vol. 186, pp. 108739. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Dec 25.
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108739
Abstrakt: Linchpin to the entire area of psychophysiological research and discussion of the vagus is the respiratory and cardiovascular phenomenon known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; often synonymous with high-frequency heart-rate variability when it is specifically linked to respiratory frequency), i.e. rhythmic fluctuations in heart rate synchronized to inspiration and expiration. This article aims 1) to clarify concepts, terms and measures commonly employed during the last half century in the scientific literature, which relate vagal function to psychological processes and general aspects of health; and 2) to expand upon an earlier theoretical model, emphasizing the importance of RSA well beyond the current focus upon parasympathetic mechanisms. A close examination of RSA and its relations to the vagus may 1) dispel certain commonly held beliefs about associations between psychological functioning, RSA and the parasympathetic nervous system (for which the vagus nerve plays a major role), and 2) offer fresh perspectives about the likely functions and adaptive significance of RSA, as well as RSA's relationship to vagal control. RSA is neither an invariably reliable index of cardiac vagal tone nor of central vagal outflow to the heart. The model here presented posits that RSA represents an evolutionarily entrenched, cardiovascular and respiratory phenomenon that significantly contributes to meeting continuously changing metabolic, energy and behavioral demands.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The author reports no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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