scholarly journals Cardiac perception and the voluntary control of heart rate

1980 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda R. Gannon
1978 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Dale ◽  
David Anderson

Two experiments focused on two information variables relevant to changes in heart rate, field dependence and the ability to perceive one's own heart rate. In Exp. I, 14 field-independent and 17 field-dependent subjects completed a heart-rate perception and a voluntary heart-rate control task. The anticipated superiority in heart-rate control by field-independent subjects was detected although no evidence was found for a relationship between the amount of biofeedback available in the situation and voluntary control of the cardiovascular system. Exp. II involved 9 field-independent and 8 field-dependent subjects in a classical conditioning paradigm involving shock sensitivity. In contrast with Exp. I, in this phase of the study heart-rate increases were correlated with the ability of the subject to discriminate heart beats, especially for the field-independent group. It was concluded that field dependence and heart-rate perception are related to classically conditioned heart-rate increase for some subjects and further that field dependence may be a potent variable operating in those situations involving the voluntary control of heart rate without exteroceptive feedback.


1995 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1048-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Patwardhan ◽  
S. Vallurupalli ◽  
J. M. Evans ◽  
E. N. Bruce ◽  
C. F. Knapp

We investigated the effects of voluntary control of breathing on autonomic function in cardiovascular regulation. Variability in heart rate was compared between 5 min of spontaneous and controlled breathing. During controlled breathing, for 5 min, subjects voluntarily reproduced their own spontaneous breathing pattern (both rate and volume on a breath-by-breath basis). With the use of this experimental design, we could unmask the effects of voluntary override of the spontaneous respiratory pattern generator on autonomic function in cardiovascular regulation without the confounding effects of altered respiratory pattern. Results from 10 subjects showed that during voluntary control of breathing, mean values of heart rate and blood pressure increased, whereas fractal and spectral powers in heart rate in the respiratory frequency region decreased. End-tidal PCO2 was similar during spontaneous and controlled breathing. These results indicate that the act of voluntary control of breathing decreases the influence of the vagal component, which is the principal parasympathetic influence in cardiovascular regulation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole K. Kindermann ◽  
Natalie S. Werner

In the present study we aimed to investigate the impact of the ability to perceive bodily changes as indexed by the perception of one’s heartbeat (cardiac perception) on emotional experience when being confronted with a mental stressor. To induce stress, participants high and low in cardiac perception performed a computerized mental arithmetic test while listening to a white noise increasing in volume. Emotional experience and heart rate were assessed as indices of stress response. Our results show that participants high in cardiac perception reported more negative emotions during the stress period compared to participants low in cardiac perception, though heart rate did not differ between the groups. Our findings suggest that cardiac perception moderates the stress experience by enhancing the perceived emotion. Thus we were able to demonstrate that cardiac perception contributes as a factor explaining the variance in individuals’ emotional response to a stressor.


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