The “Respiratory Vasomotor Reelex” in the Eorehead and Einger

Abstract

The so‐called respiratory vasomotor reflex, long observed in plethysmography of the extremities, was examined in seven normal Ss ranging in age from 17 to 38 years. With a photometric method, the vascular responses of the skin of the forehead and the finger were found to differ following a deep breath like a sigh. These responses were quite similar to the vascular components of the orienting reflex, i.e., vasodilation in the forehead and vasoconstriction in the hand. A polyphasic response in the forehead in some Ss followed the deliberate deep inspirations. This polyphasic response has also been observed during the orieinting reflex but without changes in respiration. This type of response appears to be associated with bradycardia, and may be related to similar vascular responses observed following cardiac arrhythmias.

Deep Inspirations as Stimuli for Responses of the Autonomic Nervous System

“…The confounding effects of deep inspirations have also been recognized in operant conditioning studies of heart rate (Sheam, 1962;Hnatiow & Lang, 1965;Brener & Hothersall, 1966;Trowill, 1967;Miller & DiCara, 1967), vasoconstriction (Snyder & Noble, 1968), salivation (Miller & Carmona, 1967), and spontaneous GSRs (Stem, Boles & Dionis, 1966;Van Twyver & Kimmel, 1966). Royer (1966) has recently discussed the relationship of the respiratory reflex to the orienting reflex.…”