PSYCH 2AP3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Tachycardia, Heart Rate Variability, Vagus Nerve

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 2AP3
• Professor: Richard B Day

Document Summary

Cardiac vagal tone (heart rate variability: heart rate is governed by the tenth cranial nerve (vagus nerve, vagus nerve modulates the rate at which the heart beats. The extent to which the vagus nerve does this is determined by measuring hrv. High heart rate variability means that vagus nerve in the brain is modulating our response to emotional stimuli. Low hrv indicates that the vagus nerve isn"t doing its job properly. Low hrv is associated with ppl with anxiety: these ppl are low in their ability of emotion regulation, as indicated by the vagus nerve. Low hrv is associated with behavioural inhibition in children: this is a combo of neuroticism ( a high reactivity to emotional events) and introversion (a tendency to be reactive to high levels of stimuli) Using a purely cognitive treatment leads to a change in hrv.