The current study provides the first published evidence that the parasympathetic component of the autonomic nervous system differentiates the response profiles between individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and controls. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a non-invasive marker of the influence of the myelinated vagal fibers on the heart, and heart period were collected during the presentation of film clips of varying emotional content. The BPD and control groups had similar initial levels of RSA and heart period. However, during the experiment the groups exhibited contrasting trajectories, with the BPD group decreasing RSA and heart period and the control group increasing RSA and heart period. By the end of the experiment, the groups differ significantly on both RSA and heart period. The correlation between the changes in RSA and heart period was significant only for the control group, suggesting that vagal mechanisms mediated the heart period responses only in the control group. The findings were consistent with the Polyvagal Theory [Porges, S. W. (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage: A Polyvagal Theory. Psychophysiology, 32, 301-318; Porges, S. W. (2001). The Polyvagal Theory: Phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42, 123-146; Porges, S. W. (2003). Social engagement and attachment: A phylogenetic perspective. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1008, 31-47.], illustrating different adaptive shifts in autonomic state throughout the course of the experiment. The BPD group ended in a physiological state that supports the mobilization behaviors of fight and flight, while the control group ended in a physiological state that supports social engagement behaviors. These finding are consistent with other published studies demonstrating atypical vagal regulation of the heart with other psychiatric disorders.

Previous research investigating the influence of perceived physical attractiveness on student evaluations of college professors has been limited to a handful of studies. In this study, the authors used naturally occurring data obtained from the publicly available Web site www.ratemyprofessors.com. The data suggested that professors perceived as attractive received higher student evaluations when compared with those of a nonattractive control group (matched for department and gender). Results were consistent across 4 separate universities. Professors perceived as attractive received student evaluations about 0.8 of a point higher on a 5-point scale. Exploratory analyses indicated benefits of perceived attractiveness for both male and female professors. Although this study has all the limitations of naturalistic research, it adds a study with ecological validity to the limited literature.

The influence of sleep state (i.e., active and quiet) on heart period, heart period variability, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and the coupling between RSA and heart period was evaluated in 24 healthy full-term newborns. Electrocardiogram (ECG) data were collected, and sleep state was coded 1 hr after feeding until at least 10 min of data were collected in states of active and quiet sleep. ECG data were analyzed for the first five continuous minutes of each sleep state. Relative to active sleep, quiet sleep was associated with significantly higher amplitude RSA, lower heart period variability, and longer heart periods. Because RSA amplitude reflects the functional output of vagal pathways originating in the nucleus ambiguus, it was hypothesized that sleep state would influence how these vagal pathways regulate instantaneous changes in heart period. A new method, evaluating the instantaneous coupling of RSA and heart period, demonstrated that coupling was significantly greater during active sleep. The neurophysiological explanation extends the polyvagal theory to include potential cortical-brain stem connections.

The use of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is dependent on several quantification factors. The statistical consequences of sampling rate, R-wave trigger accuracy, and the data structure of RSA estimates were evaluated via simulations and simulated modifications. Simulations demonstrated that sampling rate determined the amplitude of the smallest oscillation that could be accurately described. When the amplitude of the oscillation was smaller in milliseconds than the sampling interval, all smaller oscillations, regardless of amplitude, were indiscriminately assigned a default value defined as 50% of the sampling interval. Also, reduced R-wave peak detection accuracy was demonstrated to influence statistical analyses. The distributional characteristics of several common methods of structuring RSA estimates were investigated, and results indicated that several methods results in asymmetrical distributions. We recommend using rapid sampling rates (i.e., 1 kHz), accurate R-wave peak detectors, and avoiding statistical trouble.

Fatigue contributes to driving-related accidents and fatalities. Cardiovascular measures such as heart rate and heart rate variability may serve as early indicators of fatigue. In the current investigation, 24 professional truck drivers drove three truck configurations: single trailer, triple trailer A-dolly, and triple trailer C-dolly on a standard route that lasted between 8 and 10 h. During the driving session, continuous measures of heart rate were quantified on-line. In addition to heart rate, two measures of heart rate variability (i.e. respiratory sinus arrhythmia and the Traube-Hering-Mayer wave or 0.1 Hz oscillation) were derived from the beat-to-beat heart rate. Independent of configuration, heart rate increased and the measures of heart rate variability decreased during the driving route. Only heart rate statistically differed among the configurations. Since heart rate is physiologically linked to metabolic output, the results suggest that the observed effect may be due to the physical demands required to drive each truck configuration. In support of this conclusion, the heart rate effect was consistent with the subjective report of task demand. The slowest heart rates were observed while driving the least demanding configuration (i.e. single trailer). The fastest heart rates were observed while driving the most demanding configuration (i.e. triple trailer A-dolly).