"The heart has a nervous system of its own"

[DRSB]

"A key moment for the field came in 1995, when Stephen Porges, currently a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, put forth Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasized the role of the heart in social behavior. The theory states that the vagus nerve, a nerve likely found only in mammals, provides input to the heart to guide behavior as complex as forming relationships with other people as well as disengaging from others."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... R_20101006

What are your thoughts?

[Feck]

The vagus nerve goes to a lot of other places too It's not just a heart nerve .

[hiyymer]

"A key moment for the field came in 1995, when Stephen Porges, currently a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, put forth Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasized the role of the heart in social behavior. The theory states that the vagus nerve, a nerve likely found only in mammals, provides input to the heart to guide behavior as complex as forming relationships with other people as well as disengaging from others."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... R_20101006

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for the link.

My thought is that it is probably the tip of the iceberg, and some part of a far more complex mechanism. It is interesting that the "feelings" are bodily states that are part of regulatory processes. For example, dropping blood sugar sets of a series of events that create the feeling of hunger. The state of our bodily sensations are a big part of what makes us happen. The brain is not only creating conscious sensory representations of the outside world, but also of our own body. We "know" we are hungry. We "know" we are socially stimulated.

[DRSB]

I've heard this idea form the Institute of Heartmath already. They say that in fetuses the heart starts beating before there is a brain, sort of, it is the heart that commands the brain and not vice-versa.

[Trolldor]

Utter tosh. The human body is interdependant.

[hiyymer]

I've heard this idea form the Institute of Heartmath already. They say that in fetuses the heart starts beating before there is a brain, sort of, it is the heart that commands the brain and not vice-versa.

There is no commander. Whoops.

[Hermit]

"A key moment for the field came in 1995, when Stephen Porges, currently a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, put forth Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasized the role of the heart in social behavior. The theory states that the vagus nerve, a nerve likely found only in mammals, provides input to the heart to guide behavior as complex as forming relationships with other people as well as disengaging from others."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... R_20101006

What are your thoughts?

The heart too reacts to input from the external world, which in turn affects people's emotional states and hence behaviour. Interesting, but not as significant or profound as the article makes it seem.

Anything else? Ah, yes. The more I read of the Scientific American, the more tabloid it appears to me.

[hiyymer]

Anything else? Ah, yes. The more I read of the Scientific American, the more tabloid it appears to me.

Wasn't always so. It's getting more tabloid gradually, to keep up with the shift in the market. I find it kind of discouraging. Read it less and try to find good books about science instead. That's getting harder too.