Cited by 870Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlVagus Nerve Stimulation ResearchStress Responses and Cortisol

Cardiac vagal tone: A physiological index of stress

Porges, Stephen W.·1995·Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Abstract

Cardiac vagal tone is proposed as a novel index of stress and stress vulnerability in mammals. A model is described that emphasizes the role of the parasympathetic nervous system and particularly the vagus nerve in defining stress. The model details the importance of a branch of the vagus originating in the nucleus ambiguus. In mammals the nucleus ambiguus not only coordinates sucking, swallowing, and breathing, but it also regulates heart rate and vocalizations in response to stressors. In mammals it is possible, by quantifying the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, to assess the tonic and phasic regulation of the vagal pathways originating in the nucleus ambiguus. Measurement of this component of vagal tone is proposed as a method to assess, on an individual basis, both stress and the vulnerability to stress.

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Crossref · 10.1016/0149-7634(94)00066-a

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  • RSA provides a measure of parasympathetic activity that indexes the mammalian capacity to flexibly respond to micro-level shifts in environmental events, thereby supporting orientation, attention, and social engagement.

    “Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), the respiratory component in heart rhythms mediated by the 10th cranial nerve, the vagus, provides a measure of parasympathetic activity that indexes the mammalian capacity to flexibly respond to micro-level shifts in environmental events, thereby supporting orientation, attention, and social engagement (33).”

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Authors
Porges, S. W.
Affiliations
University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Corresponding author
Porges, Stephen W.
Venue
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1995-06
Volume
19
Issue
2
Pages
225-233
ISSN
0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2028900007
Cited by
870
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 52 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 29
FWCI
2.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Public Health Service (MCJ-240622)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 22628, R01HD022628)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vagus Nerve Stimulation Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
cardiac vagal tone, stress, stress vulnerability, parasympathetic nervous system, vagus nerve, nucleus ambiguus, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart rate regulation, vocalizations, stress measurement
MeSH terms
Animals, Autonomic Nervous System, Heart, Humans, Stress, Psychological, Vagus Nerve

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