The polyvagal theory: New insights into adaptive reactions of the autonomic nervous system

By Stephen W. Porges. Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine, 2009

793 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The polyvagal theory describes an autonomic nervous system that is influenced by the central nervous system, sensitive to afferent influences, characterized by an adaptive reactivity dependent on the phylogeny of the neural circuits, and interactive with source nuclei in the brainstem regulating the striated muscles of the face and head. The theory is dependent on accumulated knowledge describing the phylogenetic transitions in the vertebrate autonomic nervous system. Its specific focus is on the phylogenetic shift between reptiles and mammals that resulted in specific changes to the vagal pathways regulating the heart. As the source nuclei of the primary vagal efferent pathways regulating the heart shifted from the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus in reptiles to the nucleus ambiguus in mammals, a face–heart connection evolved with emergent properties of a social engagement system that would enable social interactions to regulate visceral state.

Subfields: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e51af1489d27d9fcae1a5b47ec352574617573da

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In Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

In Cognitive Neuroscience

Citations in the corpus

Physiological Reactivity to Infant Crying and Observed Maternal Sensitivity (2013, methodology): “In another study of Pruitt and Erickson (1985), high and low abuse potential groups were created based on Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) scores.”
Joy and Calm: How an Evolutionary Functional Model of Affect Regulation Informs Positive Emotions in Nature (2016, background): “…to our understanding of affiliative and positive emotions with respect to reward pathways, dopamine and oxytocin (see also Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky 2005 for review), as well as research into the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system by Porges (1995, 2007, 2009).”