Decision making and heart rate variability: A systematic review

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the balance of the autonomic nervous system and is associated with cognitive functions. However, its relationship with the process related to making a decision is unclear. This systematic review aims to analyze the relationship between HRV and decision-making. A qualitative analysis was conducted according to the PRISMA-Statement. Fifteen studies were included, with a total of 1051 healthy participants. Our results show an association between higher vagally mediated HRV and better decision-making performance, especially under risk and uncertainty. At the same time, a lower HRV is associated with lower performance in developing good decisions. This systematic review highlights the influence of the autonomic nervous system in decisionmaking processes. HRV could be considered a biomarker of making decisions. However, the nature of this relationship is still difficult to clarify, and further studies are needed.

Heart Rate Variability and Pain: A Systematic Review

“…However, a placebo [ 50 ] also generates a similar response. The findings suggest that placebo analgesia, induced administering a placebo, can increase HRV and induce pain relief [ 37 , 50 ], consistent with the Neurovisceral Integration Model [ 19 , 25 ]. Furthermore, autonomic responses to the same painful stimulation can differ depending on the affective states [ 32 ] or the empathetic or unempathetic context [ 53 , 54 ].…”

“…The Vagal Tank Theory [ 100 ], relying on the Neurovisceral Integration Model [ 17 ], highlights the role of the vagus nerve in the control of cardiac activity and in goal-directed behavior, as well as in the individual self-regulation ability [ 100 ]. The Neurovisceral Integration Model [ 17 , 19 ] assumes that the goal-directed behavior and the self-regulation ability of an organism are structurally and functionally supported by the Central Autonomic Network [ 18 ], a complex network of brain structures whose primary output is the cardiac vagal control expressed by HRV. Accordingly, our study confirms a relationship between the autonomic nervous system indexed by HRV and the pain response to nociceptive stimulation.…”

“…The authors of the NVIM proposed a core set of neural structures, referred to as the Central Autonomic Network (CAN), which provides the ability to continuously assess and prepare the organism for an appropriate response [ 18 ]. In the NVIM, heart rate variability (HRV) has been proposed as an index of flexible and adaptive regulation of the nervous system to organize a homeostatic response to environmental requests and which is related to cognitive functions [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. HRV represents the change in the time interval between successive heartbeats.…”

Ear your heart: transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on heart rate variability in healthy young participants

“…We chose to stimulate for only 10 min, according to studies that found HR changes soon after taVNS onset ( Keute et al, 2019 ; Sclocco et al, 2019 ; Sharon, Fahoum & Nir, 2021 ). Therefore, recordings of less than 10 min provide reliable HRV indices ( Forte, Favieri & Casagrande, 2019 ; Forte et al, 2021 ; Forte et al, 2022a ; Forte et al, 2022b ; Melo et al, 2018 ; Munoz et al, 2015 ; Nussinovitch et al, 2012 ; Thong et al, 2003 ; Voss et al, 2009 ).…”

“…Outliers (less than 1% of the data) were removed. According to previous studies ( Forte et al, 2021 ; Forte et al, 2022a ), HRV data were log-transformed for approximately following normal distribution.…”