It’s not unusual to hear people describe themselves as emotionally 'colder'

It’s not unusual to hear people who have undergone sympathectomies describe themselves as feeling emotionally “colder” than before. Among psychologists and neurologists alike there is concern, but no evidence, that the procedure limits alertness and arousal as well as fear, and might affect memory, empathy and mental performance. Professor Ronald Rapee, the director of the Centre of Emotional Health at Sydney’s Macquarie University, says he’s counselled several people who complain of feeling “robot-like” in the long-term wake of the operation. “They’re happy they no longer blush, but they miss the highs and lows they used to feel.”
(John van Tiggelen, Good Weekend Magazine, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, 10th March 2012)
https://archive.today/uURge

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Higher resting HRV is associated with more adaptive and functional top-down and bottom-up cognitive modulation of emotional stimuli


Front Psychol. 2014 May 1;5:278. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00278. eCollection 2014.
From the heart to the mind: cardiac vagal tone modulates top-down and bottom-up visual perception and attention to emotional stimuli.
Park G1, Thayer JF2. Author information
Abstract
The neurovisceral integration model (Thayer and Lane, 2000) posits that cardiac vagal tone, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), can indicate the functional integrity of the neural networks implicated in emotion-cognition interactions. Our recent findings begin to disentangle how HRV is associated with both top-down and bottom-up cognitive processing of emotional stimuli. Higher resting HRV is associated with more adaptive and functional top-down and bottom-up cognitive modulation of emotional stimuli, which may facilitate effective emotion regulation. Conversely, lower resting HRV is associated with hyper-vigilant and maladaptive cognitive responses to emotional stimuli, which may impede emotion regulation. In the present paper, we recapitulate the neurovisceral integration model and review recent findings that shed light on the relationship between HRV and top-down and bottom-up visual perception and attention to emotional stimuli, which may play an important role in emotion regulation. Further implications of HRV on individual well-being and mental health are discussed. 

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