Brain-Heart Afferent-Efferent Traffic

Abstract

The understanding of cardiac neuronal control has dramatically evolved in the last 50 years, both from an anatomical and a functional point of view. Cardiac neuronal control is mediated via a series of reflex control networks involving somata in the (i) intrinsic cardiac ganglia (heart), (ii) intrathoracic extracardiac ganglia (stellate, middle cervical), (iii) superior cervical ganglia, (iv) spinal cord, (v) brainstem, and (vi) higher centers. Each of these processing centers contains afferent, efferent, and local circuit neurons, which interact locally and in an interdependent fashion with the other levels

Linking brain-heart interactions to emotional arousal in immersive virtual reality

“…The integration of external (exteroceptive) and internal (interoceptive) signals (e.g., from the heart), which gives rise to emotional experiences, takes place in the brain (Craig, 2009; Seth, 2013). The two autonomic branches transmit sensory signals from the heart (e.g., via the vagus nerve, through the dorsal root and stellate ganglia; Dusi & Ardell, 2020) to the brainstem, where they are relayed to the cerebrum and cerebellum. Reversely.…”