Abstract
Of the many observable physiological oscillations, the oscillations in the heart rate pattern associated with respiration (i.e. respiratory sinus arrhythmia) are the most relevant to psychophysiological research. The use of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in psychophysiological research may be justified by the facts that: (1) neurophysiology justifies the measurement of the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia as an index of cardiac vagal tone; (2) the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia indexes general central nervous system status; and (3) the changing amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia parallels psychological constructs often used in psychophysiological paradigms such as sustained attention and stress.
Preparation of this manuscript and portions of the research described have been supported, in part, by Research Scientist Development Award K02-MH-0054 from the National Institute of Mental Health and research grant HD 15968 from the National Institutes of Health. The contributions of Dr. Robert E. Bohrer on the development of the time-series methods described in this Chapter are gratefully acknowledged. Present address is Institute for Child Study/Department of Human Development, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742.
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Porges, S.W. (1986). Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia: Physiological Basis, Quantitative Methods, and Clinical Implications. In: Grossman, P., Janssen, K.H.L., Vaitl, D. (eds) Cardiorespiratory and Cardiosomatic Psychophysiology. NATO ASI Series, vol 114. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0360-3_7
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