Parent conflict predicts infants' vagal regulation in social interaction

AbstractParent conflict during infancy may affect rapidly developing physiological regulation. To examine the association between parent conflict and infants' vagal tone functioning, mothers (N = 48) reported levels of parent conflict and their 6-month-old male and female infants' respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured in the still-face paradigm. Higher parent conflict was related to lower RSA at baseline and each episode of the still-face paradigm. Infants in relatively higher conflict families showed attenuated RSA withdrawal in response to mothers' disengagement and attenuated RSA activation when interacting with mothers. Findings suggest atypical RSA regulation and reliance on self-regulation for infants in families with moderate levels of parent conflict. Implications for later development and future research are discussed.

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Multigenerational links between mothers' experiences of autonomy in childhood and preschoolers' respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Variations by maltreatment status

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579415000863 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (4pt2) ◽

pp. 1443-1460 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Laura K. Noll ◽

Caron A. C. Clark ◽

Elizabeth A. Skowron

Keyword(s):

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Preschool Age ◽

Future Research ◽

Significant Heterogeneity ◽

Strange Situation ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Social Exchanges ◽

Physiological Regulation ◽

Regulatory Capacity

AbstractDespite burgeoning evidence linking early exposure to child maltreatment (CM) to deficits in self-regulation, the pathways to strong regulatory development in these children are not well understood, and significant heterogeneity is observed in their outcomes. Experiences of autonomy may play a key role in transmitting self-regulatory capacity across generations and help explain individual differences in maltreatment outcomes. In this study, we investigated multigenerational associations between Generation 1 (G1)–Generation 2 (G2) mothers' early experience of warmth and autonomy in relation to their own mothers and their Generation 3 (G3) children's autonomic physiological regulation in CM (n= 85) and non-CM (n= 128) families. We found that G2 mothers who recalled greater autonomy in their childhood relationship with their G1 mothers had preschool-age G3 children with higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia at baseline when alone while engaged in individual challenge tasks, during social exchanges with their mother in joint challenge tasks, and during the portions of the strange situation procedure when the mother was present. Although no clear mediators of this association emerged, multigenerational links among G1–G2 relations, maternal representations of her child, child behavior, and child respiratory sinus arrhythmia differed by maltreatment status, thus possibly representing important targets for future research and intervention.

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Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia During Sleep and Waking

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000200 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 1-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Elizabeth M. Stoakley ◽

Karen J. Mathewson ◽

Louis A. Schmidt ◽

Kimberly A. Cote

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Slow Wave Sleep ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Nrem Sleep ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Affective Style ◽

Waking State ◽

Optimal Period ◽

The Stability

Abstract. Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is related to individual differences in waking affective style and self-regulation. However, little is known about the stability of RSA between sleep/wake stages or the relations between RSA during sleep and waking affective style. We examined resting RSA in 25 healthy undergraduates during the waking state and one night of sleep. Stability of cardiac variables across sleep/wake states was highly reliable within participants. As predicted, greater approach behavior and lower impulsivity were associated with higher RSA; these relations were evident in early night Non-REM (NREM) sleep, particularly in slow wave sleep (SWS). The current research extends previous findings by establishing stability of RSA within individuals between wake and sleep states, and by identifying SWS as an optimal period of measurement for relations between waking affective style and RSA.

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Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and social interaction patterns in preterm newborns

Infant Behavior and Development ◽

10.1016/0163-6383(95)90052-7 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 233-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Julie A. Hofheimer ◽

Brian R. Wood ◽

Stephen W. Porges ◽

Ellyn Pearson ◽

Edward E. Lawson

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Interaction Patterns ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Preterm Newborns

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Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, emotion, and emotion regulation during social interaction

Psychophysiology ◽

10.1111/j.1469-8986.2006.00467.x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 43 (6) ◽

pp. 612-622 ◽

Cited By ~ 286

Author(s):

Emily A. Butler ◽

Frank H. Wilhelm ◽

James J. Gross

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia

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Effects of hypercapnia and hypoxemia on respiratory sinus arrhythmia in conscious humans during spontaneous respiration

AJP Heart and Circulatory Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpheart.00817.2006 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 292 (5) ◽

pp. H2397-H2407 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Y. C. Tzeng ◽

P. D. Larsen ◽

D. C. Galletly

Keyword(s):

Tidal Volume ◽

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Amplitude Ratio ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Vagal Tone ◽

Mean Amplitude ◽

Spontaneous Respiration ◽

Vagal Activity ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Amplitude Increase

Normally, at rest, the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) appears to correlate with cardiac vagal tone. However, recent studies showed that, under stress, RSA dissociates from vagal tone, indicating that separate mechanisms might regulate phasic and tonic vagal activity. This dissociation has been linked to the hypothesis that RSA improves pulmonary gas exchange through preferential distribution of heartbeats in inspiration. We examined the effects of hypercapnia and mild hypoxemia on RSA-vagal dissociation in relation to heartbeat distribution throughout the respiratory cycle in 12 volunteers. We found that hypercapnia, but not hypoxemia, was associated with significant increases in heart rate (HR), tidal volume, and RSA amplitude. The RSA amplitude increase remained statistically significant after adjustment for respiratory rate, tidal volume, and HR. Moreover, the RSA amplitude increase was associated with a paradoxical rise in HR and decrease in low-frequency-to-high-frequency mean amplitude ratio derived from spectral analysis, which is consistent with RSA-vagal dissociation. Although hypercapnia was associated with a significant increase in the percentage of heartbeats during inspiration, this association was largely secondary to increases in the inspiratory period-to-respiratory period ratio, rather than RSA amplitude. Additional model analyses of RSA were consistent with the experimental data. Heartbeat distribution did not change during hypoxemia. These results support the concept of RSA-vagal dissociation during hypercapnia; however, the putative role of RSA in optimizing pulmonary perfusion matching requires further experimental validation.

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