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College students use substances for varied reasons, including to cope with stress. The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) regulates bodily functions to promote energy conservation (the 'rest and digest' response), and individuals differ in their physiological sensitivity to challenge. It remains unclear whether greater PNS responses (i.e., declines in PNS activity, termed vagal withdrawal) to challenge could suggest difficulty regulating and thereby confer risk for using substances in community samples. We hypothesised that lower resting PNS activity and greater PNS responses to a challenge task would be associated with more frequent substance use (i.e., alcohol use, binge drinking, cannabis use). College students (N = 152; Mage = 20.5, SD = 3.2; 73.8% female) reported their past month frequency of substance use and completed a laboratory-based challenge task while having an electrocardiogram administered to derive respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of PNS activity. They watched a 4-min neutral video (resting baseline) and then traced a star with their nondominant hand while only seeing the mirror reflection of their hand (challenge). Higher resting RSA was related to more frequent cannabis use. Individuals with larger declines in RSA from the video to the task (i.e., greater PNS responses) tended to use each substance more frequently. RSA recovery from the task was not related to substance use. Taken together, college students who are more physiologically responsive to challenge may use substances more frequently, potentially as a means of coping. Biofeedback interventions can be investigated for reducing college students' substance use risk.

Parenting that is warm and supportive has been consistently linked to better emotion regulation in children, but less is known about this association in adolescents. Adolescence is thought to be an important period for emotion regulation development given that it coincides with the emergence of mental health issues. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a measure of parasympathetic regulation linked to emotion and behavior regulation. Despite the well-documented links between parenting practices and emotion regulation, and between RSA and emotion regulation, few studies have focused on the association between positive parenting and adolescent RSA or included both mothers and fathers. The current study analyzed the influence of warm parenting throughout adolescence (ages 10-16) on basal RSA at age 17 in 229 Mexican-origin youths. Latent-growth curve models were used to analyze associations between maternal and paternal warmth and baseline RSA. Changes in maternal, but not paternal, warmth from age 10 to 16 were related to youths' basal RSA at age 17. Specifically, youths who perceived increasing (or less decreasing) maternal warmth across adolescence had higher basal RSA. This finding suggests that positive maternal parenting experiences during adolescence "get under the skin" to enhance parasympathetic functioning that supports youths' emotion regulation capacities.

Although the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDoC) framework proposes biological and environmental mechanisms intersect in the etiology of psychopathology, there is no guidance on how to define or measure experiences in the environment within the RDoC matrix. Interpersonal dynamics during caregiver-child interactions involve temporal coordination of interacting partners biobehavioral functioning; repeated experiences of signaling to caregivers and responding to caregivers signals shape childrens subsequent socioemotional and brain development. We begin with a review of the extant literature on caregiver-child dynamics, which reveals that RDoCs units of analysis (brain circuits, physiology, behavior, and self-report) are inextricably linked with moment-to-moment changes in the caregiving environment. We then offer a proof-of-concept for integrating biobehavioral RDoC units and environmental components via caregiver-child dynamics. Our approach uses dynamic structural equation models to estimate within-dyad dynamics involving arousal, social, cognitive, and negative or positive affective processes based on second-by-second changes in parasympathetic activity (RSA) during a conflict discussion and a positive event-planning task. Our results illustrate variation in parent-child RSA synchrony, suggesting differences depending on the driver (i.e., child- or parent-led) and on the unique and intersecting domains involved (e.g., positive or negative affect valence systems). We conclude with recommendations for conducting robust, methodologically rigorous studies of interpersonal dynamics that advance the RDoC framework and provide a summary of the clinical implications of this research. Examining caregiver-child dynamics during and across multiple dyadic interaction paradigms that differentially elicit key domains of functioning can deepen understanding of how caregiver- and child-led interpersonal dynamics contribute to child psychopathology risk.

Exposure to stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic contributes to psychopathology risk, yet not all children are negatively impacted. The current study examined a parasympathetic biomarker of stress sensitivity, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), as a moderator of the effects of exposure to pandemic stress on child internalizing and externalizing behaviors in a sample of children experiencing economic marginalization. Three to five years pre-pandemic, when children were preschool-aged, RSA during baseline and a challenging parent-child interaction were collected. Mid-pandemic, between November 2020 and March 2021, children's exposure to pandemic stress and internalizing and externalizing behaviors were collected. Results demonstrated that children who, pre-pandemic, demonstrated blunted parasympathetic reactivity (i.e., no change in RSA relative to baseline) during the dyadic challenge exhibited elevated risk for externalizing behaviors mid-pandemic. Further, this risk was greatest for children exposed to high and moderate levels of pandemic stress. Consistent with diathesis stress and polyvagal frameworks, these conditional effects suggest that blunted parasympathetic reactivity in response to stress in early childhood may escalate the development of externalizing behaviors following stress exposure at school age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of the present study were to investigate links between changes in peer victimization from elementary to high school and adolescent reactive aggression (Goal 1), whether heightened autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to social and nonsocial stress increases risk for adolescent reactive aggression (Goal 2), and whether increased ANS reactivity strengthens the association between changes in victimization and adolescent reactive aggression (Goal 3). Participants included 145 adolescents (Mage = 16; 54% female; 76% European American, 13% African American, 11% Latino American, 7% Asian American, 5% of mixed race or ethnicity; 60% with family incomes of $100,000 or greater). We collected self-report data in elementary (Time 1 [T1]); (Time 2 [T2]); middle (Time 3 [T3]); and high school (Time 4 [T4]) to assess victimization. At T4, we measured self-reported reactive and proactive aggression, and ANS reactivity (preejection period [PEP], respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) to peer rejection and nonsocial frustration. More positive victimization slope over time (meaning both less decreasing slopes and increasing slopes) predicted greater adolescent reactive, but not proactive aggression (Goal 1). Greater RSA augmentation to peer rejection and more PEP reactivity to nonsocial frustration predicted more reactive, but not proactive aggression (Goal 2). The link between victimization slope and reactive aggression emerged only for adolescents exhibiting RSA augmentation to peer rejection (marginal; Goal 3). Public Significance Statement: The public significance of these results suggests that at-risk youth may benefit from both peer-based strategies to reduce exposure to peer victimization and individual strategies to promote effective emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how proximal and distal familial stressors influenced the real‐time, dynamic individual and dyadic regulation of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother–preschooler and father–preschooler interactions in at‐risk families (N = 94, Mage = 3.03 years, 47% males, 77% White, 20% Latinx, data collected 2013–2017). Proximal stressors were operationalized as changing task demands (baseline, challenge, recovery) across a dyadic puzzle task. Distal stressors were measured as parent‐reported stressful life events. Multilevel models revealed that greater proximal and distal stressors were related to weaker dynamic self‐regulation of RSA in mothers, fathers, and children, and more discordant mother–child and father–child coregulation of RSA. Findings affirm that stress is transmitted across levels and persons to compromise real‐time regulatory functioning in early, developmentally formative caregiver–child interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diminished basal parasympathetic nervous system activity is a feature of frontotemporal dementia that relates to left frontoinsula dysfunction and empathy impairment. Individuals with a pathogenic expansion of the hexanucleotide repeat in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), the most common genetic cause of frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, provide a unique opportunity to examine whether parasympathetic activity is disrupted in genetic forms of frontotemporal dementia and to investigate when parasympathetic deficits manifest in the pathophysiological cascade. We measured baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a parasympathetic measure of heart rate variability, over two minutes in a sample of 102 participants that included 19 asymptomatic expansion carriers (C9+ asymp), 14 expansion carriers with mild cognitive impairment (C9+ MCI), 16 symptomatic expansion carriers with frontotemporal dementia (C9+ FTD), and 53 expansion-negative healthy controls (C9- HC) who also underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. In follow-up analyses, we compared baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia in the C9+ FTD group with an independent age-, sex-, and clinical severity-matched group of 26 people with sporadic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. The Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration-modified Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes score was used to quantify behavioral symptom severity, and informant ratings on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index provided measures of participants' current emotional (empathic concern) and cognitive (perspective-taking) empathy. Results indicated that the C9+ FTD group had lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia than the C9+ MCI, C9+ asymp, and C9- HC groups, a deficit that was comparable to that of sporadic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Linear regression analyses indicated that lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia was associated with worse behavioral symptom severity and lower empathic concern and perspective-taking across the C9orf72 expansion carrier clinical spectrum. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analyses in participants with C9orf72 pathogenic expansions found that lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia correlated with smaller gray matter volume in the left frontoinsula and bilateral thalamus, key structures that support parasympathetic function, and in the bilateral parietal lobes, occipital lobes, and cerebellum, regions that are also vulnerable in individuals with C9orf72 expansions. This study provides novel evidence that basal parasympathetic functioning is diminished in FTD due to C9orf72 expansions and suggests that baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia may be a potential non-invasive biomarker that is sensitive to behavioral symptoms in the early stages of disease.

Children with specific psychophysiological profiles may be more strongly affected by adverse environmental experiences. Guided by a biopsychosocial perspective, we examined whether infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic functioning, moderates the associations between paternal postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms and infants' observed empathy‐related responses. Participants were 142 families with infants (51% female) assessed at two time points. At T1 (3 months of age), fathers reported their depressive symptoms. Infants' cardiac activity was recorded during rest and estimates of RSA were calculated. In addition, infants' empathy‐related responses during a maternal distress simulation were observed and rated at T2 (12 months of age). Higher paternal PPD at T1 predicted higher infant affective (i.e., affective concern) and cognitive (i.e., inquiring behaviors) responses to maternal distress at T2. Infant RSA moderated this relationship for cognitive responses, with a significant positive association only for children with high or average RSA. These findings contribute to the understanding of the psychophysiological mechanisms that support empathy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases are commonly associated with disturbances in parasympathetic heart rhythm control; therefore, the development of new methods for assessing vagal cardiotropic effects is an important biomedical task. The purpose of this research was to study the synchronization of respiration-related oscillations of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) depending on the duration of the expiration phase, during which cardiac vagal effects increase. The study involving nine young men included a passive head-up test performed at a fixed respiratory rate of 0.2 Hz (12 cycles/min) and different ratios of inspiration and expiration phase durations (30/70 and 70/30%). Blood pressure, HR, and pulmonary ventilation were continuously recorded during the experiment. In the supine position, the power of HR oscillations at the respiratory frequency was significantly higher with longer expiratory phase. The power of MAP oscillations, phase synchronization index, and phase difference between HR and MAP oscillations did not depend on the breathing pattern. The power of HR oscillations decreased during body verticalization: to a lower level during 30% expiratory phase than during 70% expiratory phase. The power of MAP oscillations increased and the phase difference between MAP and HR oscillations decreased during head-up tilt regardless of the duration of the inspiratory phase; however, the increased phase synchronization index of MAP and HR oscillations were observed only during a short inspiratory phase. Therefore, the phase structure of the respiratory cycle can significantly influence the power of respiration-related HR oscillations and their synchronization with MAP oscillations of the corresponding frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperamental inhibitory control is a foundational capacity for children's social, emotional, and behavioral development. Even though temperament is suggested to have a biological basis, the physiological indicators of inhibitory control remain unclear amid mixed empirical results. In this study, we leveraged a multicohort longitudinal design to examine resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a physiological correlate of inhibitory control across the early and middle childhood years. Data were collected annually across four time points from cohorts of 4- (n = 150, Mage = 4.53; SD = 0.30; 49.7% female) and 8- (n = 150; Mage = 8.53; SD = 0.29; 49.7% female) year-old children and their caregivers. There were weak, albeit significant, associations between resting RSA and caregiver-reported inhibitory control in middle childhood but not in early childhood. A stronger association was found for older children when latent trait assessments of RSA and inhibitory control were derived from commonalities across the four annual assessments. We conclude that using repeated measures to extract latent trait scores increases power to detect potential physiological indicators of temperament. Public Significance Statement: In the current study we examined resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a biological correlate of temperamental inhibitory control with a multicohort, 4-year longitudinal design across early and middle childhood. The analyses examining associations between resting RSA and inhibitory control across the latent trait models (derived from four repeated measures) showed significant associations between resting RSA and inhibitory control in middle childhood but not in early childhood. Results indicated that the biological correlates of temperamental inhibitory control might become more crystalized in middle childhood and showed that the use of repeated measures to extract latent trait scores would increases power to detect potential physiological indicators of temperamental inhibitory control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shyness is a temperamental trait that refers to fear and wariness in the face of social novelty and is known to have a biological basis. One proposed physiological correlate of shyness has been the change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) from baseline to a stressor. However, past research linking shyness and RSA change has been mixed, which may be, in part, due to a failure to carefully consider the context under which RSA change is measured and the directionality of relations. Using a longitudinal design and cross-lagged analysis (N= 103, 52 girls), we examined parent-reported shyness and RSA change during a stranger approach task (social stressor) and a locked box task (nonsocial stressor) at ages 3 (Mage at Time 1 = 3.50 years, SDage = 0.19 years) and 4 (Mage at Time 2 = 4.76 years, SDage = 0.38). Cardiac vagal withdrawal during the stranger approach task, but not during the frustration task, at age 3 positively predicted shyness at age 4. Shyness at age 3 did not predict cardiac vagal change in either context at age 4. We also found that changes in RSA measured during the frustration task were stable across time, but changes in RSA measured during the stranger approach task were not stable across time, suggesting a developmental change in physiological regulatory systems to social threat. These results suggest that, although biology may come first in shaping children's behavior, this relation depends critically on the context and the incentives in the child's environment. Public Significance Statement: At age 3, cardiac vagal withdrawal, a physiological index of reactivity, was positively related to shyness 1 year later. This relation was specific to cardiac vagal withdrawal measured in a social threat context but not in a frustrating context that was less socially threatening. These results highlight the importance of considering context when examining biological factors that place individuals at greater risk of developing shyness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family environment, emotion regulation and biological sensitivity have been shown to be associated with adolescents' externalizing problem behaviours. However, findings regarding respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity are mixed and sometimes contradictory. This study aims to clarify the roles of RSA reactivity and anger regulation in the relationship between negative family expressiveness (NFE) and adolescents' externalizing behaviour by measuring RSA reactivity during the Parent–Adolescent Interaction Task (PAIT), designed to simulate a naturalistic negative family environment. In this study, 125 Chinese adolescents (M = 13.95 years, SD = 0.95; 48% male) completed questionnaires assessing negative family expressiveness, anger regulation and externalizing problems. Additionally, we collected electrocardiogram and respiration data during both the resting period and a 10‐min PAIT. Results showed that anger regulation mediated the relationship between NFE and externalizing problem behaviours. Moreover, adolescents' RSA reactivity moderated this mediation effect, even after controlling for baseline RSA. Greater RSA suppression potentially indicated greater susceptibility, with the relationship between NFE and anger regulation being more pronounced in adolescents with greater RSA suppression compared to those with lesser RSA suppression. These findings highlight the importance of considering physiological systems, especially within the context of adverse family environments, when studying the relationships with externalizing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures of parasympathetic regulation, such as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), predict executive function outcomes, including inhibitory control, across childhood. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia augmentation tends to be associated with more maladaptive outcomes, compared to RSA suppression, but the literature regarding RSA profiles and inhibitory control development across infancy and early childhood is contradictory. The goal of our current study was to examine the longitudinal and interactive effects of infant RSA during a frustrating task with negative maternal characteristics on inhibitory control during early childhood. Participants included 410 children (209 girls, 77.6% White, 92.9% non‐Hispanic) and their mothers. With small to moderate effect sizes (r2 range from 0.124 to 0.143), we demonstrated that maternal negative affect when children were 36 months old moderated the association between 10‐month‐old RSA during a frustrating task and 48‐month‐old inhibitory control, such that RSA suppression predicted higher levels of inhibitory control, but only when mothers exhibited high levels of negative affect. Our results highlight the biosocial framework under which child inhibitory control develops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether parental sensitivity during distressing and non‐distressing mother–infant interactions predicts changes in young children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) activity. Baseline RSA levels were collected from 83 children (49% female, 51% male) when children were 7 and 18 months old. Children's RSA reactivity and RSA recovery during the still‐face paradigm were collected when children were 7 months and during the strange situation procedure at 18 months. Controlling for stability of RSA activity over time, maternal sensitivity during distressing interactions at 7 months predicted changes in children's baseline RSA levels (β = −0.30) and children's RSA recovery (β = 0.25). Young children who experienced higher levels of sensitivity at 7 months had lower resting RSA levels and exhibited greater RSA recovery at 18 months. These results suggest that changes in young children's RSA activity are meaningfully related to their early caregiving experiences. Highlights: We examined whether maternal sensitivity during infancy predicts changes in children's RSA activity from infancy to toddlerhood.Children who experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity during infancy showed greater RSA recovery from a stressor during toddlerhood.Children who experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity during infancy had lower resting RSA levels during toddlerhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Reactivity (RSA‐R) correlates both positively and negatively with externalizing behaviour in autistic individuals. These inconsistencies may result from task‐based differences. This pilot study measured RSA‐R in 4‐to 6‐year‐olds, across two timepoints, using four validated tasks with matched baseline and challenge periods. Social, cognitive, sensory and emotional tasks were employed to evaluate the use of a domain‐specific approach in measuring RSA‐R in young autistic children. RSA and parent‐reported externalizing behaviour were collected from 16 children (Mage = 5.60 years; 13 male; 12 White/Caucasian; 15 non‐Hispanic/Latine). RSA‐R was measured by the difference score of the challenge task minus its corresponding comparison task. Correlations were computed to evaluate associations between RSA‐R and behaviour. RSA was reliably measured for 3/4 tasks (0.694 ≤ intraclass correlation coefficients [ICCs] ≤ 0.896). Only RSA‐R during a social task correlated with externalizing behaviour. These results support using a battery that measures a range of challenges, differing in social demands, to characterize how arousal contributes to emotion regulation demands among young autistic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiological synchrony is an important biological process during which parent–child interaction plays a significant role in shaping child socioemotional adjustment. The present study held a context‐dependent perspective to examine the conditional association between parent–child physiological synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment (i.e., relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation) under different (i.e., from highly unsupportive to highly supportive) emotional contexts. One hundred and fifty school‐age Chinese children (Mage = 8.64 years, 63 girls) and their primary caregivers participated in this study. After attaching electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes, parent–child dyads were instructed to complete a 4‐minute conflict discussion task. Parent–child physiological synchrony was calculated based on the within‐dyad association between parents' and children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) levels across eight 30‐second epochs. Parental emotional support, child relationship quality with parents, and child emotion regulation during the discussion task were coded by trained research assistants. Supporting our hypotheses, parental emotional support moderated the relations of parent–child RSA synchrony with both child relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation. Furthermore, the Johnson‐Neyman technique of moderation indicated that the associations between parent and child RSA synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment indicators shifted from negative to positive as the parental emotional support became increasingly high. Our findings suggest that parent–child physiological synchrony may not be inherently adaptive or maladaptive, highlighting the importance of understanding the function of parent–child physiological synchrony under specific contexts. Research Highlights: Physiological synchrony may not be inherently adaptive or maladaptive, and the meanings of parent–child physiological synchrony might be contingent on contextual factors.Parental emotional support moderated the relations between parent–child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment indicators (i.e., child relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation).More positive/less negative parent–child RSA synchrony was associated with better child socioemotional adjustment under a supportive emotional context, whereas with poorer child socioemotional adjustment under an unsupportive emotional context.These findings highlight the significance of considering the emotional context in physiological synchrony studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wearable technology is increasingly used in clinical practice and research to monitor functional gastrointestinal symptoms and mental health. Aims: This article explores the potential of wearable sensors to enhance the understanding of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), particularly its role in linking psychological and gastrointestinal function. The ANS, facilitates brain‐gut communication and is responsive to psychosocial conditions. It is implicated in disorders related to psychological stress and gut‐brain interaction. Wearable technology enables tracking of the ANS in daily life, offering complementary and alternative methods from traditional lab‐based measures. This review places focus on autonomic metrics such as respiratory sinus arrhythmia, vagal efficiency, and electrodermal activity as well as self‐reports of autonomic symptoms. Discussion: Potential applications include use of wearable sensors for tracking autonomic activity in disorder of gut‐brain interaction such as cyclic vomiting syndrome, in which ANS dysregulation may be triggered by psychosocial factors. Considerations for data interpretation and contextualization are addressed, acknowledging challenges such as situational confounders of ANS activity and accuracy of wearable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a marker of self‐regulation, has been linked to developmental outcomes in young children. Although positive emotions may have the potential to facilitate physiological self‐regulation, and enhanced self‐regulation could underlie the development of positive emotions in early childhood, the relation between positive emotions and physiological self‐regulation in infancy has been relatively overlooked. The current study examined the bidirectional associations among maternal positive emotion, infant positive emotionality, and infant resting RSA across the first 18 months of life. We used data from the Longitudinal Attention and Temperament Study (LanTs; N = 309 in the current analysis) to test the within‐ and between‐person relations of study variables over time using a random‐intercepts cross‐lagged panel model. We found that infants with higher overall levels of positive emotionality also displayed greater resting RSA, and their mothers exhibited higher levels of positive emotion. However, there were negative cross‐lagged associations within‐person; higher than average infant positive emotionality predicted lower levels of infant resting RSA at the subsequent timepoint during early infancy, whereas higher than average infant RSA subsequently predicted decreased levels of infant positive emotionality later in infancy. Results highlight the importance of considering transactional relations between positive emotion and physiological self‐regulation in infancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black adults' prior exposure to racial discrimination may be associated with their acute parasympathetic reactivity to and recovery from a new race‐related stressor. Existing analytical approaches to investigating this link obscure nuances in the timing, magnitude, and patterns of these acute parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) responses. In a re‐analysis of a prior study, we utilize an hidden Markov model (HMM) approach to examine how prior experiences of racial discrimination are associated with intraindividual patterns of (1) physiological states of PNS activity and (2) patterns of and variability in transitions between these physiological states. Participants (N = 118) were Black young adults (range 18–29 years; Mage = 19.67, SDage = 2.04) who completed an online survey to index prior racial discrimination exposure, followed by an in‐person lab visit during which their PNS activity in response to a race‐related stress task was measured via electrocardiogram and converted into respiratory sinus arrhythmia. HMMs indicated evidence for two states: baseline and a second state representing a significant reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Most participants (93.22%) demonstrated a blunted response to the task, indicating that they did not transition from baseline during the procedure. Prior racial discrimination was not associated with HMM states or state transition parameters. Blunted physiological responses may be an important area of future investigation that could inform early life course mental and physical health screenings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to advance our understanding of how observed child self-regulation, parenting, and their interaction were associated with children's dynamic physiological stress reactivity indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity trajectories. Participants were 85 three-year-old children (54% female) and their mothers oversampled for lower income, higher stressful life events, and higher child maltreatment risk. Child behavioral regulation, assessed as compliance and noncompliance, and maternal supportive parenting were observed during a challenging dyadic puzzle task. Results showed that child RSA exhibited quadratic change across the task on average, characterized by an expected initial decrease and subsequent recovery. Child behavioral regulation and its interaction with maternal supportive parenting were associated with interindividual differences in child RSA reactivity trajectories after controlling for child resting RSA. Children with higher compliance or lower noncompliance showed RSA decreases in response to task stressors but exhibited subsequent RSA recovery only when mothers displayed higher supportive parenting. Children with lower compliance or higher noncompliance displayed negligible RSA changes overall across the task, suggesting blunted or compromised RSA reactivity, regardless of supportive parenting levels. These findings demonstrate novel evidence that preschoolers' better behavioral regulation is related to their more adaptive physiological reactivity to stressors and that supportive parenting is needed to facilitate physiological recovery even in relatively better-regulated preschoolers. Public Significance Statement: This study demonstrates that during challenging mother–preschooler interactions, preschoolers who exhibit better behavioral regulation with mothers and experience higher levels of supportive parenting show the most adaptive physiological reactivity to stressors and efficient physiological recovery after stressors have passed. Child self-regulation and parenting in challenging interactions are potential intervention targets to promote adaptive physiology and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The present study examined whether immigration stress was related to decreased capacities for psychophysiological stress regulation (as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and whether lower RSA, in turn, was related to decreased maternal sensitivity. The buffering effect of familism values was also evaluated, such that familism values were expected to minimize associations between immigration stress, RSA, and sensitivity. Method: Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of Mexican immigrant mothers (N = 277; Mage = 28 years). Mothers self-reported immigration stress and familism values, and mothers' resting RSA and sensitivity were assessed during laboratory visits. Results: Higher immigration stress was associated with higher RSA (B =.15, SE =.07, p =.04) but was unrelated to maternal sensitivity. Moreover, links between more immigration stress and higher RSA were more pronounced among mothers who reported stronger familism values (B =.20, SE =.07, p =.003). Conclusions: The present study contributes to our understanding of the sequelae of immigration stress in Mexican immigrant mothers and the cultural resiliency factors that may alter its effects. In contrast to hypotheses, findings suggested that mothers who endorse more immigration stress may also exhibit higher RSA, and links may be more pronounced among those with strong familism values. Further research is needed to advance understanding of resiliency processes that promote family functioning in vulnerable populations. Public Significance Statement: Immigration stress can present challenges for parental and family functioning, but pathways are not fully understood. Study findings suggest that Mexican immigrant mothers may demonstrate physiological resiliency in the face of immigration stress and that familism values may be a key cultural consideration in the promotion of well-being in Mexican immigrant families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Seabirds like penguins and petrels, living in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, often feed hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from the islands where they breed. They therefore adapted to endure prolonged fasting during egg incubation, enabling their partner to undertake foraging trips that can last up to two weeks. Aside from accumulating and consuming fat reserves, it is unclear whether seabirds have developed further adaptations to extended fasting periods. This lack of knowledge is in part due to their remote nesting location and their extreme sensitivity to manipulation. To overcome this lack of knowledge, we developed a non-invasive device to record the heart rate (HR) of burrow-nesting blue petrels (Halobaena caerulea) during egg incubation. For that, we encapsulated a small-size logger in a dummy egg to record electrocardiograms (ECGs) through the featherless incubation patch of the birds. Results The blue petrels’ HR (208 ± 15 beats per min [bpm]; n = 6) that we recorded during egg incubation was slower than the HR predicted by two different allometric functions regressing HR against body mass (242 and 250 bpm). Blue petrels’ HR also presented cyclical variation correlated to respiration, resembling the physiological Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) described in humans and other species, and that is mainly modulated by the vagal nerve. Moreover, the basal HR of incubating blue petrels increased about every minute during egg movements that presumably reflect egg turning, important for embryo survival and development. During these events, blue petrels’ HR increased up to a maximum of 296 ± 27 bpm for 18 ± 2 s (n = 6). We estimated that those egg movements increased energy expenditure (EE) by 8.4 ± 1.3%, which is approximately 10 times less than the energy increase induced by the disturbance linked with the removal of the dummy egg at the end of the experiment. Interestingly, we noticed that the beginning of HR increase preceded egg movements by 4.3 ± 0.9 s (n = 6), as if birds needed to gradually increase their metabolism to achieve the following action. As well, blue petrels needed 9.1 ± 1.3 s (n = 6) to recover basal levels of HR after the end of egg movements. Conclusion We recorded for the first time ECGs, HR and RSA in blue petrels in a completely non-invasive way. This allowed us to observe (1) slow basal HR during egg incubation, which could save energy for prolonged fasting and (2) temporal HR increase, possibly necessary to reposition the egg for proper embryonic development.

Emotion involves oneself in relation to a subject of attention; e.g., sadness is to be sad about something/someone. This study examined emotional responses to perceiving a loss of connection from oneself. Evidence suggests that Europeans tend to perceive salient objects in the foreground, while East Asians are more likely to perceive holistically, considering the interrelationships between the context and the object. We studied how this distinction affected European Americans' (EA) and Chinese Americans' (CA) sensitivity to perceiving the loss of connection. Both groups were exposed to loss by playing Cyberball, a balltossing video game, and then watched a film clip on grief. We hypothesized that EA would respond with increasing heart rate (HR) variance around the mean when perceiving loss. CA were predicted to show no difference from controls. We also hypothesized that EA would feel sadder, in terms of decreased HR and increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), earlier during the film clip. In total, 53 subjects were recruited, of which 40 were EA (47.5% women, age 21.08 ± 1.94 years) and 13 were CA (61.5% women, age 21.05 ± 1.74 years); 25 subjects (19 EA, 6 CA) received 2 out of 48 balls tossed in Cyberball and the controls received 10. ECG, respiration, and facial electromyography (fEMG) data were acquired. The results during Cyberball showed that EA's HR variance relative to baseline (HR SDc/b) had an upward trend on perceiving loss. Contrary to prediction, CA also showed higher levels of HR variance relative to baseline. The ANOVA of HR SDc/b revealed that the interaction effect of two factors, time and condition, was statistically significant (p = 0.009). However, as predicted, EA in the experimental condition had decreased HR and increased RSA, a sign of withdrawal in sadness, 30 to 60 s into the sad clip. fEMG data at the corrugator muscle revealed that EA activated higher peak intensity 5.5 s earlier than CA (increased 1.571 vs. 0.844). This difference, however, was not statistically significant. The evidence suggests that increased exposure to loss automatically led to increased HR variance in both groups even when subjects were informed that players were computer-generated. However, the effect was stronger on EA to increase their arousal and sensitivity to grief thereafter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slow-paced breathing at an individual's resonance frequency (RF) is a common element of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback training (Laborde et al. in Psychophysiology 59:e13952, 2022). Although there is strong empirical support for teaching clients to slow their respiration rate (RR) to the adult RF range between 4.5 and 6.5 bpm (Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2014), there have been no definitive findings regarding the best inhalation-to-exhalation (IE) ratio to increase HRV when breathing within this range. Three methodological challenges have frustrated previous studies: ensuring participants breathed at the target RR, IE ratio, and the same RR during each IE ratio. The reviewed studies disagreed regarding the effect of IE ratios. Three studies found no IE ratio effect (Cappo & Holmes in J Psychosom Res 28:265-273, 1984; Edmonds et al. in Biofeedback 37:141-146, 2009; Klintworth et al. in Physiol Meas 33:1717-1731, 2012). One reported an advantage for equal inhalations and exhalations (Lin et al. in Int J Psychophysiol 91:206?211, 2014). Four studies observed an advantage for longer exhalations than inhalations (Bae et al. in Psychophysiology 58:e13905, 2021; Laborde et al. in Sustainability 13:7775, 2021; Strauss-Blasche et al. in Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 27:601?60, 2000; Van Diest et al. in Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 39:171?180, 2014). One study reported an advantage for longer inhalations than exhalations (Paprika et al. in Acta Physiol Hung 101:273?281, 2014). We conducted original (N = 26) and replication (N = 16) studies to determine whether a 1:2 IE ratio produces different HRV time-domain, frequency-domain, or nonlinear metrics than a 1:1 ratio when breathing at 6 bpm. Our original study found that IE ratio did not affect HRV time- and frequency-domain metrics. The replication study confirmed these results and found no effect on HRV nonlinear measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Committee Report provides methodological, interpretive, and reporting guidance for researchers who use measures of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in psychophysiological research. We provide brief summaries of best practices in measuring HR and HRV via electrocardiographic and photoplethysmographic signals in laboratory, field (ambulatory), and brain‐imaging contexts to address research questions incorporating measures of HR and HRV. The Report emphasizes evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different recording and derivation methods for measures of HR and HRV. Along with this guidance, the Report reviews what is known about the origin of the heartbeat and its neural control, including factors that produce and influence HRV metrics. The Report concludes with checklists to guide authors in study design and analysis considerations, as well as guidance on the reporting of key methodological details and characteristics of the samples under study. It is expected that rigorous and transparent recording and reporting of HR and HRV measures will strengthen inferences across the many applications of these metrics in psychophysiology. The prior Committee Reports on HR and HRV are several decades old. Since their appearance, technologies for human cardiac and vascular monitoring in laboratory and daily life (i.e., ambulatory) contexts have greatly expanded. This Committee Report was prepared for the Society for Psychophysiological Research to provide updated methodological and interpretive guidance, as well as to summarize best practices for reporting HR and HRV studies in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both parasympathetic nervous system regulation and receipt of social support from close relationships contribute to prosocial development, although few studies have examined their combined influences in adolescence and particularly within racially and ethnically minoritized populations. In this longitudinal study of 229 U.S. Mexican-origin adolescents (48% female-identifying), youths reported on receipt of social support from family and friends from 10 to 16 years, had their baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) measured at 17 years, reported their prosocial behavior and completed the Mind in the Eyes test to assess cognitive empathy at 17 and 19 years, and reported their prosocial civic behavior (i.e., community activity) at 19 years. Family social support predicted prosocial behavior at 17 years, and friend social support predicted prosocial civic behavior at 19 years. Compared to youths with lower or higher baseline RSA, youths with moderate RSA reported more prosocial civic behavior, had greater cognitive empathy, and tended to report more general prosocial behavior at 19 years. The quadratic association between baseline RSA and cognitive empathy was stronger for youths with greater family social support. These findings are the first to extend the evidence that moderate baseline parasympathetic nervous system activity supports prosocial development into late adolescence and with the U.S. Mexican-origin community, and these findings address calls for more integrative biopsychosocial studies of prosociality. Public Significance Statement: This study shows that physiological regulation and social support from family and friends support prosocial development for U.S. Mexican-origin youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's risk of poorer mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic may depend on risk and protective factors heading into the pandemic. This study examined same-day associations between COVID-19 stressors and children's mental health using a daily diary design across 14 days, and considered the moderating roles of pre-pandemic peer victimization experiences and resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; an indicator of cardiac regulatory capacity). Forty-nine Canadian children aged 8–13 years (Mage = 10.69, 29 girls) participated in the final wave of a longitudinal study just prior to the pandemic and a daily diary extension during the pandemic (N = 686 pandemic measurement occasions). Multilevel modeling indicated that children had poorer mental health on days when they experienced a COVID-19 stressor (e.g., virtual academic difficulties, social isolation). A three-way interaction indicated that this association was stronger for those with higher pre-pandemic peer victimization experiences and lower pre-pandemic resting RSA; however, highly victimized children with higher resting RSA did not experience poorer mental health on days with COVID-19 stressors. Findings offer preliminary insights into the preceding risk and protective factors for children's mental health amidst major subsequent stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Seabirds like penguins and petrels, living in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, often feed hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from the islands where they breed. They therefore adapted to endure prolonged fasting during egg incubation, enabling their partner to undertake foraging trips that can last up to two weeks. Aside from accumulating and consuming fat reserves, it is unclear whether seabirds have developed further adaptations to extended fasting periods. This lack of knowledge is in part due to their remote nesting location and their extreme sensitivity to manipulation. To overcome this lack of knowledge, we developed a non-invasive device to record the heart rate (HR) of burrow-nesting blue petrels (Halobaena caerulea) during egg incubation. For that, we encapsulated a small-size logger in a dummy egg to record electrocardiograms (ECGs) through the featherless incubation patch of the birds. Results: The blue petrels' HR (208 ± 15 beats per min [bpm]; n = 6) that we recorded during egg incubation was slower than the HR predicted by two different allometric functions regressing HR against body mass (242 and 250 bpm). Blue petrels' HR also presented cyclical variation correlated to respiration, resembling the physiological Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) described in humans and other species, and that is mainly modulated by the vagal nerve. Moreover, the basal HR of incubating blue petrels increased about every minute during egg movements that presumably reflect egg turning, important for embryo survival and development. During these events, blue petrels' HR increased up to a maximum of 296 ± 27 bpm for 18 ± 2 s (n = 6). We estimated that those egg movements increased energy expenditure (EE) by 8.4 ± 1.3%, which is approximately 10 times less than the energy increase induced by the disturbance linked with the removal of the dummy egg at the end of the experiment. Interestingly, we noticed that the beginning of HR increase preceded egg movements by 4.3 ± 0.9 s (n = 6), as if birds needed to gradually increase their metabolism to achieve the following action. As well, blue petrels needed 9.1 ± 1.3 s (n = 6) to recover basal levels of HR after the end of egg movements. Conclusion: We recorded for the first time ECGs, HR and RSA in blue petrels in a completely non-invasive way. This allowed us to observe (1) slow basal HR during egg incubation, which could save energy for prolonged fasting and (2) temporal HR increase, possibly necessary to reposition the egg for proper embryonic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stephen Porges’s polyvagal theory proposes to integrate various scientific disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, psychophysiology, evolutionary and developmental biology, social sciences and psychotherapy together with special evolutionary features of the vagus nerve in mammals putatively claimed by polyvagal conjectures. This specifically involves linking neuroanatomical hypotheses about the vagus nerve with social and psychological concepts, especially regarding socioemotional behavior and conditions of extreme stress. These concepts have particularly found increasing popularity among trauma therapists, and have sometimes been described as groundbreaking, as in the last issue of this journal (Ackermann, 2024; Grassmann, 2024; Rahm & Meggyesy, 2024). However, there is a broad state-of-the-knowledge consensus among experts that the fundamental physiological hypotheses of the polyvagal theory are untenable and must be considered largely refuted. Furthermore, the major psychological constituents of polyvagal theory – attachment, co-regulation, social engagement, and intero ceptive processes beyond conscious awareness – each predate polyvagal speculations by decades; there is also a depth of thought and literature readily available that does not require physiological justifications for their uses in psychology or psychotherapy. For those desiring a more biological understanding of these processes, there are other models of explanation, integrating the entire nervous system, that correspond with current understanding of body and mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; a measure of respiratory modulation of vagal control of heart rate) is a dynamic process. For mothers, RSA functioning has been associated with depressive symptoms and coincides with supportive parenting. However, research has largely focused on RSA suppression (i.e., difference score from rest to stress task). The present study examined depressive symptoms and supportive parenting with RSA instability—a dynamic measure of the magnitude of RSA change across a task. In two samples of mothers (N = 210), one with preschoolers (Study 1: n = 108, Mage = 30.68 years, SD = 6.06, 47.0% Black, 43.0% White) and one with adolescents (Study 2: n = 102, Mage = 35.51, SD = 6.51, 75.2% Black), RSA instability was calculated during an interaction task. In both studies, instrumental supportive parenting behaviors were negatively related to RSA instability. Findings provide preliminary support for RSA instability as an indicator of physiological dysregulation for mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated whether parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses to social-evaluative threat at age 14 were related to the number of substances used between ages 14 and 16 among Mexican-origin adolescents (N = 243; 70.4% had never used substances by 14). Participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test, while cardiac measures of parasympathetic and SNS activity were measured continuously using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP), respectively. Participants reported whether they had ever used alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes, and had ever vaped nicotine in their lifetime at ages 14 and 16. Multilevel models were used to test associations between RSA and PEP responses at age 14 and substance use at 16. Among youth who had not used substances by 14, dampened RSA and PEP responses, and profiles of greater coinhibition and lower reciprocal SNS activation between RSA and PEP, at age 14 were associated with using substances by 16. Among youth who used by 14, exaggerated PEP responses were associated with using more substances by age 16. Taken together, dampened autonomic responses to social-evaluative threat predicted initiation of substance use over two years, and difficulties with coordination of physiological responses may confer risk for substance use in adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Higher resting parasympathetic nervous system activity, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), has been considered a marker of emotion regulatory capacity and is consistently related to better mental health. However, it remains unclear how resting RSA relates to emotion reactivity to acute social-evaluative stress, a potent predictor of depression and other negative outcomes. METHOD: A sample of 89 participants (Mage = 18.36, SD = 0.51; 58.43 % female) provided measures of RSA at rest and then completed the Trier Social Stress Test, a standardized laboratory-based social-evaluative stress task that involves public speaking and mental arithmetic while being evaluated by two confederate judges. Participants reported a variety of emotions (e.g., negative emotion, positive emotion) at baseline and immediately after the stress task. RESULTS: Participants with higher resting RSA showed greater increases in negative emotion, guilt, depressive emotion, and anger, as well as greater decreases in positive emotion after the task. LIMITATION: Data were limited to a relatively small sample of late adolescents, who may be particularly responsive to social-evaluative stress compared to adults. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that higher resting RSA may enhance emotion responses to social-evaluative stress in adolescents, potentially due to active engagement and responding to rather than passively viewing stimuli. Higher resting RSA may promote flexible emotion responses to the social environment, which may account for associations between higher RSA and better mental health.

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) manifests as cyclic fluctuations in heart rate in synchrony with breathing. Gaining insights into the dynamics of RSA within the cardiac muscle functioning is crucial for comprehending its physiological and clinical significance. This study presents an analytical framework employing Markov chains to probe RSA patterns, with a specific emphasis on individuals with hypertension and arachnophobia. We delve into the concept of RSA and its potential cardiovascular implications, particularly among populations characterized by hypertension or normotension and fear of spiders. This study utilizes Markov chain modeling, an innovative method used to scrutinize RSA dynamics across diverse cohorts, with the aim of unveiling underlying patterns and mechanisms. This research contributes to the advancement of our understanding of RSA and its correlation with cardiac function across varied demographics, potentially guiding tailored diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Our findings highlight significant disparities between hypertensive and normotensive participants, as well as spider-fearful individuals employing techniques to confront their fear compared with those without such strategies.

Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity has widespread research applications but poses measurement challenges due to its high sensitivity to environmental conditions and immediate demands. While standardised methods exist for measuring PNS reactivity and recovery in response to stressors, the selection of appropriate baseline and resting states is often overlooked. This commentary argues that a clearer conceptual distinction between baseline, a research construct for comparing values, and rest, a psychophysiological state of low arousal and cognitive engagement, is crucial for data interpretation. This includes a need for explicitly justifying baseline conditions in relation to research goals and validating rest conditions. By improving the clarity and rigour of baseline and rest, researchers can enhance the interpretability of PNS reactivity and recovery measures, supporting integration of research findings across studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced respiratory sinus arrhythmia, quantified as expiration-triggered sinus arrhythmia (ETA) from simultaneous electrocardiogram and respiration recordings, is a strong long-term mortality predictor in myocardial infarction survivors. Here, we investigated whether ETA also predicts mortality risk in the general elderly population. ETA was quantified from 30-min electrocardiogram and respiration recordings in 1788 general population subjects aged ≥60 years, who were then followed for a median of 4.0 years (median age 72 years, 58% female). Four-year all-cause mortality was 4.6%. Abnormal ETA using a predefined cutoff (≤0.19 ms) was associated with a 4-year mortality of 6.9%, compared to 3.7% in the remaining participants (p = 0.0022). ETA remained a significant mortality predictor in multivariable Cox analysis, also considering a modified Framingham score incorporating sex, age, smoking, cholesterol, blood pressure, antihypertensive medication, family history, diabetes and clinical atherosclerosis (multivariable hazard ratio 1.81; 95% confidence interval 1.17–2.81; p = 0.008). Combined risk prediction by ETA (using an optimized cutoff of ≤0.86 ms) and the Framingham score stratified patients into a low-risk (both parameters normal), an intermediate-risk (one parameter abnormal) and a high-risk group (both parameters abnormal), with 4-year mortality rates of 1.9%, 4.4% and 10.1%, respectively. We conclude that in elderly general population subjects, ETA is a mortality risk predictor that complements classical clinical risk stratification.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity, has been linked with sleep quality among children with neurotypical development. The current study extended examination of these processes to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a group at considerable risk for sleep problems. Participants included 54 children with ASD (aged 6-10 years, 43% Hispanic). RSA data were collected via a wired MindWare system during a 3-min baseline and a 3-min challenge task. Parents reported on their childrens sleep problems and sleep duration using the Childrens Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Abbreviated. Although no significant correlations emerged between RSA indices and parent-reported child sleep, baseline RSA and RSA reactivity interacted in the prediction of sleep problems. For children with higher RSA reactivity, higher baseline RSA was associated with fewer sleep problems, but for children with lower RSA reactivity, baseline RSA was not predictive. No main effects or interactions of RSA predicted sleep duration. Findings suggest resilience against sleep problems for children with ASD presenting with higher baseline RSA and higher RSA reactivity. Implications of these results center upon directly targeting psychophysiology (i.e., parasympathetic nervous system regulation) as a possible mechanism to improve sleep in children with ASD, and developing personalized interventions based on physiological markers of risk and resilience.

This study examined parental depression and parental reflective functioning (PRF) as predictors of parental proficiency in relational savoring (RS), the association between RS proficiency and a marker of children's physiological self-regulation, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), during a stressor, and indirect effects of parental depression and PRF on children's RSA via parents' RS. At Time 1 (T1), parents of 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 139) reported on their depressive symptoms and completed a parenting interview, coded for PRF. After 1.5 years (Time 2; T2), parents savored a positive relational memory that involved their children, which was coded for savoring proficiency. Children's RSA was measured during a stressful task (a series of impossible puzzles). Depressive symptoms (inversely) and PRF (positively) were associated with RS proficiency. Higher parental RS proficiency was associated with children's higher mean levels of RSA during the stressor. Indirect effects models supported that T2 RS proficiency mediated the negative association between parental T1 depressive symptoms and children's T2 RSA, and between T1 PRF and children's T2 RSA. We discuss these findings in terms of implications for parents' emotion regulation, children's emotion regulation, children's mental health, and intervention.

This study examined the stability of Attachment Script Assessment (ASA) deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous content and their significance for parenting outcomes in mothers (Mage = 31 years; 78% White/European American) and 6-month-old infants. Comparable to ASA secure base script knowledge (SBSK), mothers' ASA deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous content were significantly, moderately stable over two years (r's =.40 -.43). Mothers' ASA hyperactivation and anomalous content were associated with greater maternal intrusiveness, whereas ASA deactivation was associated with greater detachment and less intrusiveness. Only ASA anomalous content was associated with lower maternal sensitivity. Mothers' ASA deactivation was associated with less dynamic change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia during the Still-Face Procedure—reflective of limited mobilization of physiological resources to support responding to infants. Findings support the validity of ASA deactivation, hyperactivation, and anomalous content scripts, and demonstrate their utility in examining adult attachment stability and predictive significance for parent-child outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slow paced breathing has been demonstrated to provide significant health benefits for a person's health, and, during breathing sessions, it is desirable to monitor that a person is actually compliant with the breath pacer. We explore the potential use of pulse rate variability to monitor compliance with a breath pacer during meditation sessions. The study involved 6 human subjects each participating in 2–3 trials, where they are asked to follow or not to follow the breath pacer, where we collected data on how the magnitude of pulse rate variability changed. Two methods, logistic regression and a running standard deviation technique, were developed to detect non-compliance with the breath pacer based on pulse rate variability metrics. Results indicate that using pulse rate variability alone may not reliably detect non-compliance with the breath pacer. Both models exhibited limitations in terms of false positives and false negatives, with accuracy ranging from 67 to 65%. Existing methods involving visual, audio, and motion signals currently perform better for monitoring compliance with the breath pacer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) manifests as cyclic fluctuations in heart rate in synchrony with breathing. Gaining insights into the dynamics of RSA within the cardiac muscle functioning is crucial for comprehending its physiological and clinical significance. This study presents an analytical framework employing Markov chains to probe RSA patterns, with a specific emphasis on individuals with hypertension and arachnophobia. We delve into the concept of RSA and its potential cardiovascular implications, particularly among populations characterized by hypertension or normotension and fear of spiders. This study utilizes Markov chain modeling, an innovative method used to scrutinize RSA dynamics across diverse cohorts, with the aim of unveiling underlying patterns and mechanisms. This research contributes to the advancement of our understanding of RSA and its correlation with cardiac function across varied demographics, potentially guiding tailored diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Our findings highlight significant disparities between hypertensive and normotensive participants, as well as spider-fearful individuals employing techniques to confront their fear compared with those without such strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical inquiry has demonstrated the benefits of autonomy-supportive parenting practices and harms of parental psychological control for youth development and wellbeing, though specific sources of variation in use of these practices remains unclear. Individual differences in parenting practices may be related to physiological stress reactivity; more importantly, the coordination of stress responses across multiple physiological systems within the autonomic nervous system (ANS) may account for differences in parenting practices. Guided by the autonomic space model of ANS functioning, this study investigates the role of mothers' physiological stress response in relation to autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting practices. Sixty-eight mothers (Mage = 40.88, SD = 6.97) of young adolescents watched their children participate in a stressful laboratory-based public speaking task. Changes from baseline in mothers' skin conductance level (SCL reactivity) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA reactivity) were calculated. Youth reported perceptions of mothers' promotion of volitional functioning, promotion of independence, and psychological control. Physiological measures interacted such that mothers who experienced higher SCL reactivity engaged in more youth-reported psychological control when RSA scores showed little to no change from baseline to stressful task, but less psychological control when RSA scores decreased from baseline to challenge. Thus, this asynchronous pattern of ANS activity was associated with a parenting practice that typically inhibits developmentally appropriate autonomy among young adolescents, suggesting that mothers' parenting behaviors are associated with the coordinated physiological stress response of the two ANS systems. Highlights: Mothers' parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity assessed while children participated in a stressful task. Uncoordinated activity of two physiological branches was associated with controlling parenting practices. Reactivity amongst multiple physiological branches should be tested to understand variation in parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDoC) framework proposes biological and environmental mechanisms intersect in the etiology of psychopathology, there is no guidance on how to define or measure experiences in the environment within the RDoC matrix. Interpersonal dynamics during caregiver–child interactions involve temporal coordination of interacting partners' biobehavioral functioning; repeated experiences of signaling to caregivers and responding to caregivers' signals shape children's subsequent socioemotional and brain development. We begin with a review of the extant literature on caregiver-child dynamics, which reveals that RDoC's units of analysis (brain circuits, physiology, behavior, and self-report) are inextricably linked with moment-to-moment changes in the caregiving environment. We then offer a proof-of-concept for integrating biobehavioral RDoC units and environmental components via caregiver-child dynamics. Our approach uses dynamic structural equation models to estimate within-dyad dynamics involving arousal, social, cognitive, and negative or positive affective processes based on second-by-second changes in parasympathetic activity (RSA) during a conflict discussion and a positive event-planning task. Our results illustrate variation in parent–child RSA synchrony, suggesting differences depending on the driver (i.e., child- or parent-led) and on the unique and intersecting domains involved (e.g., positive or negative affect valence systems). We conclude with recommendations for conducting robust, methodologically rigorous studies of interpersonal dynamics that advance the RDoC framework and provide a summary of the clinical implications of this research. Examining caregiver-child dynamics during and across multiple dyadic interaction paradigms that differentially elicit key domains of functioning can deepen understanding of how caregiver- and child-led interpersonal dynamics contribute to child psychopathology risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand biology by environment interactions in early temperament, we examined whether children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; resting RSA and RSA reactivity) operated as a biological marker of differential susceptibility to maternal harsh parenting in predicting children's temperament. Participants were 133 mother–child dyads (53% male children) from families oversampled for lower income, higher life stress, and child maltreatment risk. Mothers reported harsh parenting at age 3 and children's temperament, including negative affectivity, effortful control, and surgency, at ages 3 and 4. Resting RSA was measured during a 3-min resting task. RSA reactivity was computed as a difference score between a 4-min toy cleanup task and the resting task. Results showed that the interaction between maternal harsh parenting and children's resting RSA significantly predicted negative affectivity, after controlling for sex, household income, and age 3 negative affectivity. Specifically, harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity among children with higher, but not lower, resting RSA. Similarly, maternal harsh parenting interacted with children's RSA reactivity to predict negative affectivity after adjusting for controls, such that harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity in children with higher, but not lower, RSA reactivity. These findings suggest that higher resting RSA and greater RSA reactivity may operate as markers of increased susceptibility to negative parenting in the development of negative affectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prenatal opioid exposure has been associated with developmental problems, including autonomic nervous system dysregulation. However, little is known about the effects of prenatal opioid exposure on the autonomic nervous system beyond the first days of life, particularly across both the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches, and when accounting for exposure to other substances. The present study examined the effects of prenatal exposure to opioid agonist therapy (OAT, e.g., methadone) and other opioids on infant autonomic nervous system activity at rest and in response to a social stressor (the Still‐Face Paradigm) at six months among 86 infants varying in prenatal opioid and other substance exposure. Results indicated that OAT and other opioids have unique effects on the developing autonomic nervous system that may further depend on subtype (i.e., methadone versus buprenorphine) and timing in gestation. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical models of the developing stress response system. Prenatal opioid exposure (POE) is a major public health concern and impacts the fetal and neonatal autonomic nervous system (ANS). However, little is known about POE effects on the ANS beyond the neonatal period and accounting for other substance exposure. The present study describes the effects of POE on infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia and pre‐ejection period at six months of age and the differential effects of type and timing of exposure in the context of polysubstance exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion involves oneself in relation to a subject of attention; e.g., sadness is to be sad about something/someone. This study examined emotional responses to perceiving a loss of connection from oneself. Evidence suggests that Europeans tend to perceive salient objects in the foreground, while East Asians are more likely to perceive holistically, considering the interrelationships between the context and the object. We studied how this distinction affected European Americans’ (EA) and Chinese Americans’ (CA) sensitivity to perceiving the loss of connection. Both groups were exposed to loss by playing Cyberball, a ball-tossing video game, and then watched a film clip on grief. We hypothesized that EA would respond with increasing heart rate (HR) variance around the mean when perceiving loss. CA were predicted to show no difference from controls. We also hypothesized that EA would feel sadder, in terms of decreased HR and increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), earlier during the film clip. In total, 53 subjects were recruited, of which 40 were EA (47.5% women, age 21.08 ± 1.94 years) and 13 were CA (61.5% women, age 21.05 ± 1.74 years); 25 subjects (19 EA, 6 CA) received 2 out of 48 balls tossed in Cyberball and the controls received 10. ECG, respiration, and facial electromyography (fEMG) data were acquired. The results during Cyberball showed that EA’s HR variance relative to baseline (HR SDc/b) had an upward trend on perceiving loss. Contrary to prediction, CA also showed higher levels of HR variance relative to baseline. The ANOVA of HR SDc/b revealed that the interaction effect of two factors, time and condition, was statistically significant (p = 0.009). However, as predicted, EA in the experimental condition had decreased HR and increased RSA, a sign of withdrawal in sadness, 30 to 60 s into the sad clip. fEMG data at the corrugator muscle revealed that EA activated higher peak intensity 5.5 s earlier than CA (increased 1.571 vs. 0.844). This difference, however, was not statistically significant. The evidence suggests that increased exposure to loss automatically led to increased HR variance in both groups even when subjects were informed that players were computer-generated. However, the effect was stronger on EA to increase their arousal and sensitivity to grief thereafter.

ObjectiveMaternal health and wellness during pregnancy are associated with long-term health outcomes in children. The current study examined whether infants of women who participated in a mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy that reduced levels of stress and depression, increased physical activity, and improved glucose tolerance differed on biobehavioral markers of psychopathological and physical health risk compared with infants of women who did not.MethodsParticipants were 135 mother-infant dyads drawn from a racially and ethnically diverse, low-income sample experiencing high stress. The women participated in an intervention trial during pregnancy that involved assignment to either mindfulness-based intervention or treatment-as-usual (TAU). Infants of women from both groups were assessed at 6 months of age on sympathetic (preejection period), parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia), and observed behavioral (negativity and object engagement) reactivity and regulation during the still face paradigm. Linear mixed-effects and generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to examine treatment group differences in infant outcomes.ResultsRelative to those in the intervention group, infants in the TAU group showed a delay in sympathetic activation and subsequent recovery across the still face paradigm. In addition, infants in the intervention group engaged in higher proportions of self-regulatory behavior during the paradigm, compared with the TAU group. No significant effect of intervention was found for parasympathetic response or for behavioral negativity during the still face paradigm.ConclusionsFindings provide evidence that maternal participation in a short-term, group mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy is associated with the early development of salutary profiles of biobehavioral reactivity and regulation in their infants. Because these systems are relevant for psychopathology and physical health, prenatal behavioral interventions may benefit two generations.