A meta-analysis of heart rate variability and neuroimaging studies: Implications for heart rate variability as a marker of stress and health

A Brain Phenotype for Stressor‐Evoked Blood Pressure Reactivity

“…In these regards, the present findings agree with, and extend extant results from, meta‐analytic neuroimaging reviews of human autonomic and cardiovascular control 12, 18, 19…”

“…The latter finding suggests some specificity for the brain pattern identified here, wherein the neural networks involved in predicting stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity are likely independent of those involved in both physical and subjective experiences of stress or pain. Importantly, the brain areas that were especially predictive of individual differences in stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity included those that are implicated in appraising psychological stressors and regulating the cardiovascular system through autonomic pathways 12, 13, 44. Among other areas, these included forebrain cortical areas within the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula (Figure 4; Tables S3 and S4), as well as areas of the basal ganglia, extended amygdala, hippocampus, midbrain, and cerebellum.…”

“…In this regard, brain areas for visceral control may provide a substrate for centrally orchestrating behavioral and stress‐related influences on CVD risk through autonomic and hemodynamic mechanisms. An expanding corpus of research supports this possibility: Patterns of functional activity within brain areas for visceral control have been related in meta‐analyses of human neuroimaging studies to stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity, as well as indicators of autonomic cardiovascular control and other systemic physiological markers of CVD risk 12, 13, 18, 19. Thus, individual differences in the functionality of brain areas for visceral control may correspond to a central nervous system source of variability in stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity and possible vulnerability to stress‐related CVD risk.…”

The enemy in the mirror: self-perception-induced stress results in dissociation of psychological and physiological responses in patients with dissociative disorder

“…We suggest that this autonomic hypoactivity and hyporeactivity can be interpreted as impaired emotion regulation (Thayer, Åhs, Fredrikson, Sollers, & Wager, 2012) and cognitive control (Gillie & Thayer, 2014) capacity during stress-inducing CFM. The observation of autonomic blunting in the face of considerable self-reported stress might be interpreted as an attempt to psychophysiologically remain within the ‘Window of Tolerance’ (Corrigan et al, 2011), eventually due to over-regulation of affect (van Dijke, 2012; van Dijke et al, 2010).…”

The role of automatic defensive responses in the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms in police recruits: protocol of a prospective study

“…dACC and anterior insula) was observed in PTSD (Harricharan et al, 2016; Thome et al, 2017). Neural control over autonomic responses is exerted by various brain regions comprising the central autonomic network, including the amygdala, brainstem, vmPFC and dACC (Critchley, Nagai, Gray, & Mathias, 2011; Etkin, Egner, & Kalisch, 2011; Thayer, Åhs, Fredrikson, Sollers, & Wager, 2012). Autonomic dysregulations in PTSD, as measured with decreased high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), was associated with altered activity and desynchronized functional connectivity of brain regions involved in autonomic regulation, respectively during presentation of trauma-related stimuli (Rabellino et al, 2017) and during rest (Thome et al, 2017).…”