Neuropsychobiology of fear-induced bradycardia in humans: progress and pitfalls.

In the last century, the paradigm of fear conditioning has greatly evolved in a variety of scientific fields. The techniques, protocols, and analysis methods now most used have undergone a progressive development, theoretical and technological, improving the quality of scientific productions. Fear-induced bradycardia is among these techniques and represents the temporary deceleration of heart beats in response to negative outcomes. However, it has often been used as a secondary measure to assess defensive responding to threat, along other more popular techniques. In this review, we aim at paving the road for its employment as an additional tool in fear conditioning experiments in humans. After an overview of the studies carried out throughout the last century, we describe more recent evidence up to the most contemporary research insights. Lastly, we provide some guidelines concerning the best practices to adopt in human fear conditioning studies which aim to investigate fear-induced bradycardia.

Cardiac sympathetic-vagal activity initiates a functional brain-body response to emotional arousal.

A century-long debate on bodily states and emotions persists. While the involvement of bodily activity in emotion physiology is widely recognized, the specificity and causal role of such activity related to brain dynamics has not yet been demonstrated. We hypothesize that the peripheral neural control on cardiovascular activity prompts and sustains brain dynamics during an emotional experience, so these afferent inputs are processed by the brain by triggering a concurrent efferent information transfer to the body. To this end, we investigated the functional brain­heart interplay under emotion elicitation in publicly available data from 62 healthy subjects using a computational model based on synthetic data generation of electroencephalography and electrocardiography signals. Our findings show that sympathovagal activity plays a leading and causal role in initiating the emotional response, in which ascending modulations from vagal activity precede neural dynamics and correlate to the reported level of arousal. The subsequent dynamic interplay observed between the central and autonomic nervous systems sustains the processing of emotional arousal. These findings should be particularly revealing for the psychophysiology and neuroscience of emotions.

Understanding the roles of central and autonomic activity during sleep in the improvement of working memory and episodic memory.

The last decade has seen significant progress in identifying sleep mechanisms that support cognition. Most of these studies focus on the link between electrophysiological events of the central nervous system during sleep and improvements in different cognitive domains, while the dynamic shifts of the autonomic nervous system across sleep have been largely overlooked. Recent studies, however, have identified significant contributions of autonomic inputs during sleep to cognition. Yet, there remain considerable gaps in understanding how central and autonomic systems work together during sleep to facilitate cognitive improvement. In this article we examine the evidence for the independent and interactive roles of central and autonomic activities during sleep and wake in cognitive processing. We specifically focus on the prefrontal-subcortical structures supporting working memory and mechanisms underlying the formation of hippocampal-dependent episodic memory. Our Slow Oscillation Switch Model identifies separate and competing underlying mechanisms supporting the two memory domains at the synaptic, systems, and behavioral levels. We propose that sleep is a competitive arena in which both memory domains vie for limited resources, experimentally demonstrated when boosting one system leads to a functional trade-off in electrophysiological and behavioral outcomes. As these findings inevitably lead to further questions, we suggest areas of future research to better understand how the brain and body interact to support a wide range of cognitive domains during a single sleep episode.

High-Frequency Heart Rate Variability Is Prospectively Associated With Sleep Complaints in a Healthy Working Cohort.

OBJECTIVE: Vagus nerve functioning, as indexed by high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), has been implicated in a wide range of mental and physical health conditions, including sleep complaints. This study aimed to test associations between HF-HRV measured during sleep (sleep HF-HRV) and subjective sleep complaints 4 years later. METHODS: One hundred forty-three healthy employees (91% male; MAge = 47.8 years [time 2], SD = 8.3 years) of an industrial company in Southern Germany completed the Jenkins Sleep Problems Scale, participated in a voluntary health assessment, and were given a 24-hour ambulatory heart rate recording device in 2007. Employees returned for a health assessment and completed the Jenkins Sleep Problems Scale 4 years later. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that lower sleep HF-HRV measured in 2007 was associated with higher self-reported sleep complaints 4 years later after controlling for covariates (rab,c = -0.096, b = -0.108, 95% CI, -0.298 to 0.081, ΔR2 = 0.009, p = .050). CONCLUSIONS: These data are the first to show that lower sleep HF-HRV predicted worse sleep 4 years later, highlighting the importance of vagus nerve functioning in adaptability and health.

High Heart Rate Variability Buffers the Effect of Attachment Insecurity on Sleep Quality.

OBJECTIVE: Sleep quality is an important health-protective factor. Psychosocial factors, including attachment orientation, may be valuable for understanding who is at risk of poor sleep quality and associated adverse health outcomes. High attachment anxiety is reliably associated with adverse health outcomes, whereas high attachment avoidance is associated with adverse health outcomes when co-occurring with poor self-regulatory capacity, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). We examined the associations between attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, HRV, and sleep quality. METHODS: Using longitudinal data from a sample of 171 older adults measured four times over 1 year ( M = 66.18 years old; 67.83% women), we separated the between-person variance (which we call "trait") and within-person variance (which we call "state") for attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and HRV (via the root mean square of successive differences). Sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. RESULTS: Higher trait attachment anxiety was associated with poorer global sleep quality ( B = 0.22, p = .005). Higher state attachment avoidance was associated with poorer sleep quality ( B = -0.13, p = .01), except for those with higher trait HRV. Higher state attachment anxiety was associated with poorer sleep quality ( B = -0.15, p = .002), except for those with higher or mean trait HRV. Higher trait attachment anxiety was associated with poorer sleep quality ( B = -0.31, p = .02), except for those with higher trait HRV. CONCLUSIONS: High trait HRV mitigated the adverse effects of attachment insecurity on sleep quality. Our results suggest that people with high trait HRV had greater self-regulation capacity, which may enable them to enact emotion regulation strategies effectively.

Oscillatory Coupling Between Neural and Cardiac Rhythms.

Oscillations serve a critical role in organizing biological systems. In the brain, oscillatory coupling is a fundamental mechanism of communication. The possibility that neural oscillations interact directly with slower physiological rhythms (e.g., heart rate, respiration) is largely unexplored and may have important implications for psychological functioning. Oscillations in heart rate, an aspect of heart rate variability (HRV), show remarkably robust associations with psychological health. Mather and Thayer proposed coupling between high-frequency HRV (HF-HRV) and neural oscillations as a mechanism that partially accounts for such relationships. We tested this hypothesis by measuring phase-amplitude coupling between HF-HRV and neural oscillations in 37 healthy adults at rest. Robust coupling was detected in all frequency bands. Granger causality analyses indicated stronger heart-to-brain than brain-to-heart effects in all frequency bands except gamma. These findings suggest that cardiac rhythms play a causal role in modulating neural oscillations, which may have important implications for mental health.

Pathways to maternal health inequities: Structural racism, sleep, and physiological stress.

Racial inequities in health are vast and well-documented, particularly regarding maternal and infant health. Sleep health, including but not limited to duration and quality, is central to overall health and well-being. However, research has not adequately addressed how racism embedded in structures and systems, in addition to individual experiences, may affect maternal health by impacting sleep. In this critical review, we aim to 1) synthesize findings, emphasizing collaborative studies within our group, 2) highlight gaps in knowledge, and 3) propose a theoretical framework and methodological approach for moving the field forward. Specifically, we focus on findings and future directions linking perinatal sleep, cardiovascular and immune function, and racial disparities in maternal health. Because too few studies look beyond individual-level determinants of sleep deficiencies among Black Americans, we assert a critical need for research that bridges multiple levels of analysis (e.g., individual, community, society) and provides recommendations for specific health parameters that researchers in this area can target. Although the need to understand and address perinatal health disparities is clear, the goal of identifying multilevel mechanisms underlying how racism in one's environment and daily life may interact to affect health extends far beyond pregnancy research.

The association between perceived social functioning and heart rate variability is mediated by subclinical depressive symptomatology and moderated by gender.

Chronic loneliness and low perceived social support have been recognized as risk factors for both mental and cardiovascular disorders. It has been proposed that their link to psychophysiological problems may involve changes in parasympathetic activity. However, the exact underlying psychopathological mechanisms and the moderating effects of gender are still not thoroughly examined. Thus, the present study investigated associations between perceived social functioning and resting vagal tone in the context of potential cognitive and subclinical mediators and gender differences. Three hundred twenty-five young adults (aged 18-35, 180 women) underwent an electrocardiogram measurement of 6-minute resting heart rate variability (HRV). They also completed questionnaires assessing loneliness, perceived social support, social cognitive biases, depressive and social anxiety symptoms, and general mental health. In men, HRV was significantly and negatively associated with poorer perceived social functioning, depressive symptoms, and self-reported social cognitive biases, while in women, there was a quadratic link between HRV and depressive symptoms and HRV and general mental health. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that depressive symptoms fully mediated the relationship between perceived social functioning and HRV in men. The results suggest that decreased resting vagal tone in lonely individuals is linked to depressive symptomatology rather than to specific social cognitive biases and that this association is significant only in men.

Associations of luteal phase changes in vagally mediated heart rate variability with premenstrual emotional changes.

BACKGROUND: A recent meta-analysis revealed that vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV; a biomarker of emotion regulation capacity) significantly decreases in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. As two follow-up studies suggest, these vmHRV decreases are driven primarily by increased luteal progesterone (P4). However, analyses also revealed significant interindividual differences in vmHRV reactivity to the cycle, which is in line with longstanding evidence for interindividual differences in mood sensitivity to the cycle. The present study begins to investigate whether these interindividual differences in vmHRV cyclicity can explain who is at higher risk of showing premenstrual emotional changes. We expected a greater degree of midluteal vmHRV decrease to be predictive of a greater premenstrual increase in negative affect. METHODS: We conducted an observational study with a naturally cycling community sample (N = 31, M = 26.03 years). Over a span of six weeks, participants completed (a) daily ratings of negative affect and (b) counterbalanced lab visits in their ovulatory, midluteal, and perimenstrual phases. Lab visits were scheduled based on positive ovulation tests and included assessments of baseline vmHRV and salivary ovarian steroid levels. RESULTS: In line with previous research, multilevel models suggest that most of the sample shows ovulatory-to-midluteal vmHRV decreases which, however, were not associated with premenstrual emotional changes. Interestingly, it was only the subgroup with luteal increases in vmHRV whose negative affect markedly worsened premenstrually and improved postmenstrually. CONCLUSION: The present study begins to investigate cyclical changes in vmHRV as a potential biomarker of mood sensitivity to the menstrual cycle. The results demonstrate a higher level of complexity in these associations than initially expected, given that only atypical midluteal increases in vmHRV are associated with greater premenstrual negative affect. Potential underlying mechanisms are discussed, among those the possibility that luteal vmHRV increases index compensatory efforts to regulate emotion in those with greater premenstrual negative affect. However, future studies with larger and clinical samples and more granular vmHRV assessments should build on these findings and further explore associations between vmHRV cyclicity and menstrually related mood changes.

Perceptions of HIV-Related Comorbidities and Usability of a Virtual Environment for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Education in Sexual Minority Men With HIV: Formative Phases of a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Sexual minority men with HIV are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and have been underrepresented in behavioral research and clinical trials. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore perceptions of HIV-related comorbidities and assess the interest in and usability of a virtual environment for CVD prevention education in Black and Latinx sexual minority men with HIV. METHODS: This is a 3-phase pilot behavioral randomized controlled trial. We report on formative phases 1 and 2 that informed virtual environment content and features using qualitative interviews, usability testing, and beta testing with a total of 25 individuals. In phase 1, a total of 15 participants completed interviews exploring HIV-related illnesses of concern that would be used to tailor the virtual environment. In phase 2, usability testing and beta testing were conducted with 10 participants to assess interest, features, and content. RESULTS: In phase 1, we found that CVD risk factors included high blood pressure, myocardial infarction, stroke, and diabetes. Cancer (prostate, colon, and others) was a common concern, as were mental health conditions. In phase 2, all participants completed the 12-item usability checklist with favorable feedback within 30 to 60 minutes. Beta-testing interviews suggested (1) mixed perceptions of health and HIV, (2) high risk for comorbid conditions, (3) virtual environment features were promising, and (4) the need for diverse avatar representations. CONCLUSIONS: We identified several comorbid conditions of concern, and findings carry significant implications for mitigating barriers to preventive health screenings, given the shared risk factors between HIV and related comorbidities. Highly rated aspects of the virtual environment were anonymity; meeting others with HIV who identify as gay or bisexual; validating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others (LGBTQ+) images and content; and accessibility to CVD prevention education. Critical end-user feedback from beta testing suggested more options for avatar customization in skin, hair, and body representation. Our next phase will test the virtual environment as a new approach to advancing cardiovascular health equity in ethnic and racial sexual minority men with HIV. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04061915; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05242952. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/38348.

Emotion Downregulation Targets Interoceptive Brain Regions While Emotion Upregulation Targets Other Affective Brain Regions.

Researchers generally agree that when upregulating and downregulating emotion, control regions in the prefrontal cortex turn up or down activity in affect-generating brain areas. However, the "affective dial hypothesis" that turning up and down emotions produces opposite effects in the same affect-generating regions is untested. We tested this hypothesis by examining the overlap between the regions activated during upregulation and those deactivated during downregulation in 54 male and 51 female humans. We found that upregulation and downregulation both recruit regulatory regions, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, but act on distinct affect-generating regions. Upregulation increased activity in regions associated with emotional experience, such as the amygdala, anterior insula, striatum, and anterior cingulate gyrus as well as in regions associated with sympathetic vascular activity, such as periventricular white matter, while downregulation decreased activity in regions receiving interoceptive input, such as the posterior insula and postcentral gyrus. Nevertheless, participants' subjective sense of emotional intensity was associated with activity in overlapping brain regions (dorsal anterior cingulate, insula, thalamus, and frontal pole) across upregulation and downregulation. These findings indicate that upregulation and downregulation rely on overlapping brain regions to control and assess emotions but target different affect-generating brain regions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Many contexts require modulating one's own emotions. Identifying the brain areas implementing these regulatory processes should advance understanding emotional disorders and designing potential interventions. The emotion regulation field has an implicit assumption we call the affective dial hypothesis: both emotion upregulation and downregulation modulate the same emotion-generating brain areas. Countering the hypothesis, our findings indicate that up- and down-modulating emotions target different brain areas. Thus, the mechanisms underlying emotion regulation might differ more than previously appreciated for upregulation versus downregulation. In addition to their theoretical importance, these findings are critical for researchers attempting to target activity in particular brain regions during an emotion regulation intervention.

Increasing coordination and responsivity of emotion-related brain regions with a heart rate variability biofeedback randomized trial.

Heart rate variability is a robust biomarker of emotional well-being, consistent with the shared brain networks regulating emotion regulation and heart rate. While high heart rate oscillatory activity clearly indicates healthy regulatory brain systems, can increasing this oscillatory activity also enhance brain function? To test this possibility, we randomly assigned 106 young adult participants to one of two 5-week interventions involving daily biofeedback that either increased heart rate oscillations (Osc+ condition) or had little effect on heart rate oscillations (Osc- condition) and examined effects on brain activity during rest and during regulating emotion. While there were no significant changes in the right amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) functional connectivity (our primary outcome), the Osc+ intervention increased left amygdala-MPFC functional connectivity and functional connectivity in emotion-related resting-state networks during rest. It also increased down-regulation of activity in somatosensory brain regions during an emotion regulation task. The Osc- intervention did not have these effects. In this healthy cohort, the two conditions did not differentially affect anxiety, depression, or mood. These findings indicate that modulating heart rate oscillatory activity changes emotion network coordination in the brain.

Differential Associations of Childhood Abuse and Neglect With Adult Autonomic Regulation and Mood-Related Pathology.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed whether different types of childhood maltreatment (i.e., abuse versus neglect) had differential relationships with heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity. In addition, this study tested the indirect effect of maltreatment subtypes on adult mood-related psychopathology via HRV, and whether these relationships differed in those with HRV above and below established clinical cutoffs. METHODS: Secondary analysis was performed using the Midlife Development in the United States data set ( N = 967; Mage = 55; 58.4% female; 75.9% White). In a single study visit, autonomic measurements were captured at rest, during two cognitive stressors (Stroop and MATH tasks), and during recovery after the tasks. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationships between key variables during all three measurement periods. RESULTS: Resting pathways from abuse and neglect to baroreflex sensitivity were nonsignificant, as was the pathway from HRV to mood-related pathology. Notably, greater abuse was significantly predictive of lower HRV (standardized ß = -0.42, p = .009), whereas greater neglect was significantly predictive of higher HRV (standardized ß = 0.32, p = .034). In addition, higher abuse was significantly predictive of greater adult symptoms (standardized ß = 0.39, p < .001), but neglect was not found to be related to adult mood-related pathology. Significant relationships between variables were only found in those with low HRV. CONCLUSIONS: Although cross-sectional, our findings provide further evidence that low HRV may be a transdiagnostic endophenotype for mood-related pathology and suggest that greater differentiation between abuse and neglect is appropriate when investigating the impact of childhood maltreatment on adult health outcomes.

Site-Specific knockdown of microglia in the locus coeruleus regulates hypervigilant responses to social stress in female rats.

BACKGROUND: Women are at increased risk for psychosocial stress-related anxiety disorders, yet mechanisms regulating this risk are unknown. Psychosocial stressors activate microglia, and the resulting neuroimmune responses that females exhibit heightened sensitivity to may serve as an etiological factor in their elevated risk. However, studies examining the role of microglia during stress in females are lacking. METHODS: Microglia were manipulated in the stress-sensitive locus coeruleus (LC) of female rats in the context of social stress in two ways. First, intra-LC lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 0 or 3 µg/side, n = 5-6/group), a potent TLR4 agonist and microglial activator, was administered. One hour later, rats were exposed to control or an aggressive social defeat encounter between two males (WS, 15-min). In a separate study, females were treated with intra-LC or intra-central amygdala mannosylated liposomes containing clodronate (m-CLD; 0 or 25 µg/side, n = 13-14/group), a compound toxic to microglia. WS-evoked burying, cardiovascular responses, and sucrose preference were measured. Brain and plasma cytokines were quantified, and cardiovascular telemetry assessed autonomic balance. RESULTS: Intra-LC LPS augmented the WS-induced burying response and increased plasma corticosterone and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). Further, the efficacy and selectivity of microinjected m-CLD was fully characterized. In the context of WS, intra-LC m-CLD attenuated the hypervigilant burying response during WS as well as the accumulation of intra-LC IL-1ß. Intra-central amygdala m-CLD had no effect on WS-evoked behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These studies highlight an innovative method for depleting microglia in a brain region specific manner and indicate that microglia in the LC differentially regulate hypervigilant WS-evoked behavioral and autonomic responses.

Sex Differences in Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation in Relation to Resting Heart Rate Variability.

Prior studies suggest that sex differences in emotion regulation (ER) ability contribute to sex disparities in affective disorders. In behavioral studies, females rely more on maladaptive strategies to cope with emotional distress than males. Neuroimaging studies suggest that males more efficiently regulate emotion than females by showing less prefrontal cortex activity (suggesting less effort) for similar amygdala activity (similar regulation outcome). However, physiological studies involving heart rate variability (HRV) indicated that, compared with males, females have higher resting HRV, indicative of parasympathetic dominance and better control of emotion. To help resolve these apparently inconsistent findings, we examined sex differences in how resting HRV relates to brain activity while using cognitive reappraisal, one of the adaptive strategies. Based on 51 males and 49 females, we found that females showed different levels of self-rated emotional intensity and amygdala activity for negative versus positive emotions, while males did not. Females also showed greater overall prefrontal cortex activity but similar levels of amygdala activity compared to males. Sex differences in how resting HRV related to brain activity during ER were evident only during viewing or regulating positive emotion. The results suggest that sex differences in the neural correlates of ER and resting HRV might lie in valence more than arousal modulation.

Changes in Medial Prefrontal Cortex Mediate Effects of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback on Positive Emotional Memory Biases.

Previous research suggests that implicit automatic emotion regulation relies on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, most of the human studies supporting this hypothesis have been correlational in nature. In the current study, we examine how changes in mPFC-left amygdala functional connectivity relate to emotional memory biases. In a randomized clinical trial examining the effects of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback on brain mechanisms of emotion regulation, we randomly assigned participants to increase or decrease heart rate oscillations while receiving biofeedback. After several weeks of daily biofeedback sessions, younger and older participants completed an emotional picture memory task involving encoding, recall, and recognition phases as an additional measure in this clinical trial. Participants assigned to increase HRV (Osc+) (n = 84) showed a relatively higher rate of false alarms for positive than negative images than participants assigned to decrease HRV (Osc-) (n = 81). Osc+ participants also recalled relatively more positive compared with negative items than Osc- participants, but this difference was not significant. However, a summary bias score reflecting positive emotional memory bias across recall and recognition was significantly higher in the Osc+ than Osc- condition. As previously reported, the Osc+ manipulation increased left amygdala-mPFC resting-state functional connectivity significantly more than the Osc- manipulation. This increased functional connectivity significantly mediated the effects of the Osc+ condition on emotional bias. These findings suggest that, by increasing mPFC coordination of emotion-related circuits, daily practice increasing heart rate oscillations can increase implicit emotion regulation.

Effects of a Randomised Trial of 5-Week Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Intervention on Cognitive Function: Possible Benefits for Inhibitory Control.

Previous research suggests that higher heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with better cognitive function. However, since most previous findings on the relationship between HRV and cognitive function were correlational in nature, it is unclear whether individual differences in HRV play a causal role in cognitive performance. To investigate whether there are causal relationships, we used a simple breathing manipulation that increases HRV through a 5-week HRV biofeedback intervention and examined whether this manipulation improves cognitive performance in younger and older adults (N = 165). The 5-week HRV biofeedback intervention did not significantly improve inhibitory control, working memory and processing speed across age groups. However, improvement in the Flanker score (a measure of inhibition) was associated with the amplitude of heart rate oscillations during practice sessions in the younger and older intervention groups. Our results suggest that daily practice to increase heart rate oscillations may improve inhibitory control, but future studies using longer intervention periods are warranted to replicate the present finding.

The Modulation of Cardiac Vagal Tone on Attentional Orienting of Fair-Related Faces: Low HRV is Associated with Faster Attentional Engagement to Fair-Relevant Stimuli.

The current experiment examined the effect of fair-related stimuli on attentional orienting and the role of cardiac vagal tone indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). Neutral faces were associated with fair and unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game (UG). After the UG, participants performed the spatial cueing task in which targets were preceded by face cues that made fair or unfair offers in the UG. Participants showed faster attentional engagement to fair-related stimuli, which was more pronounced in individuals with lower resting HRV-indexing reduced cardiac vagal tone. Also, people showed delayed attentional disengagement from fair-related stimuli, which was not correlated with HRV. The current research provided initial evidence that fair-related social information influences spatial attention, which is associated with cardiac vagal tone. These results provide further evidence that the difficulty in attentional control associated with reduced cardiac vagal tone may extend to a broader social and moral context.

Effects of a randomised trial of 5-week heart rate variability biofeedback intervention on mind wandering and associated brain function.

Previous research suggests that excessive negative self-related thought during mind wandering involves the default mode network (DMN) core subsystem and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, which involves slow paced breathing to increase HRV, is known to promote emotional well-being. However, it remains unclear whether it has positive effects on mind wandering and associated brain function. We conducted a study where young adults were randomly assigned to one of two 5-week interventions involving daily biofeedback that either increased heart rate oscillations via slow paced breathing (Osc+ condition) or had little effect on heart rate oscillations (active control or Osc- condition). The two intervention conditions did not differentially affect mind wandering and DMN core-OFC functional connectivity. However, the magnitude of participants' heart rate oscillations during daily biofeedback practice was associated with pre-to-post decreases in mind wandering and in DMN core-OFC functional connectivity. Furthermore, the reduction in the DMN core-OFC connectivity was associated with a decrease in mind wandering. Our results suggested that daily sessions involving high amplitude heart rate oscillations may help reduce negative mind wandering and associated brain function.

Vagally mediated heart rate variability, stress, and perceived social support: a focus on sex differences.

Higher vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), reflecting vagal activity as indexed by heart function and lower stress vulnerability, is associated with higher perceived social support. Seeking social support is an adaptive stress response, and evolutionary theories suggest that females use this strategy more than males. The current study investigated the hypothesis that higher vmHRV is related to higher perceived social support under conditions of higher, relative to lower, stress, and that this association is most prominent in females. A healthy student sample (n = 143; 82 males, 61 females; mean age 19.9) completed the short version of the Medical outcomes study social support survey (MOS) and the Perceived stress scale (PSS). Activity in the high frequency band of heart rate variability (HF-HRV), deducted from five-minute resting electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, indexed vmHRV. A moderation analysis was conducted, with PSS and sex as moderators of the association between vmHRV and MOS. Statistical effects were adjusted for age, education, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), alcohol and drug use, ECG-derived respiration (EDR), and mean heart rate. Higher PSS scores moderated the association between vmHRV and MOS in females but not males. Lower PSS scores did not moderate the relation between vmHRV and MOS. This suggests that higher vmHRV is associated with higher perceived social support under conditions of higher stress in females but not males, consistent with evolution of different stress management strategies in the sexes. The results may have implications for individualized intervention strategies for increasing vmHRV and perceived social support.