Science
PV Materials
Reading the actual research is important, but it’s also helpful when the research is connected to the larger picture and the dots are connected. The papers and books listed below do just that.
Scientific Papers
The COVID-19 Pandemic is a Paradoxical Challenge to Our Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective
The polyvagal theory provides insight into mitigating the threat of COVID-19 on our physical and social wellbeing.
The Traumatic Stress Research Consortium (TSRC) - March 2020 Newsletter
A Kinsey Institute newsletter that shares the initial findings from a clinical questionnaire of trauma therapists in effort to understand what motivates trauma therapists and where they might need support.
Love: an emergent property of the mammalian autonomic nervous system.
The paper proposes a hypothetical model to explain that the evolution of the mammalian polyvagal states is related to the emergence of two components of intimacy: courtship and the formation of enduring pair-bonds.
Orienting in a Defensive World: mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage. A Polyvagal Theory.
The paper proffers the Polyvagal Theory to explain how the vagus nerve of the mammalian autonomic nervous system regulates the heart in response to stressors and induces certain psychophysiological states.
The Polyvagal Theory: phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system.
The polyvagal theory proposes a deeper understanding of adaptive social-emotional behavior based on a phylogenetically developed hierarchy of autonomic nervous system states.
The Polyvagal Theory: phylogenetic contributions to social behavior
Building on Paul MacLean's contributions to social and evolutionary psychology, the Polyvagal Theory advances the theoretical proposition of the role of the vagus nerve in the neural regulation of typical and disordered visceral states and social behavior.
The Infant's Sixth Sense: awareness and regulation of bodily processes
The body's sixth sense, interoception is the sensing of internal bodily process and organs to support homeostasis through internal physiological mechanisms (Level 1), autonomic nervous system regulation from external challenges (Level 2), observable motor behavior (Level 3), and social interaction (Level 4). By measuring the vagus nerve, the proposed mechanism of interoception, we can better understand the conscious and unconscious static and shifting internal states of infants.
The Polyvagal Perspective
This paper provides an explicit description of the polyvagal theory and proposes the theory as a integrative perspective for interpreting, refining, and building research on the relationship between autonomic nervous system function and biobehavioral processes.
Chapters
The Vagus: A mediator of behavioral and physiologic features associated with autism
Observations of autistic behaviors, facial expressions, and physiologic responses suggest challenges with the social engagement system and tendency towards defensive behaviors of mobilization and immobilization. This implicates the vagus nerve in the pathophysiology of autism including the dysregulation of the HPA Axis, the gut, and the immune system.
The Polyvagal Hypothesis: Common mechanisms mediating autonomic regulation, vocalizations, and listening
An application of the Polyvagal Theory to interpret the involvement of mammalian vocalization in reciprocal communication, socialization, and adaptive survival behavior. Acoustic features, neural regulation, and middle ear anatomy are considered in this polyvagal hypothesis.
Vagal Pathways: Portals to Compassion
Porges conceptualizes how ancient and ritualized contemplative practices such as chanting, prayer, meditation, and dance employ breathing, vocalization, and posture to shift into a physiological state mediated by the vagus nerve that enhances health and subjective experiences.
Books
The Vagus: A mediator of behavioral and physiologic features associated with autism
Observations of autistic behaviors, facial expressions, and physiologic responses suggest challenges with the social engagement system and tendency towards defensive behaviors of mobilization and immobilization. This implicates the vagus nerve in the pathophysiology of autism including the dysregulation of the HPA Axis, the gut, and the immune system.
The Polyvagal Hypothesis: Common mechanisms mediating autonomic regulation, vocalizations, and listening
An application of the Polyvagal Theory to interpret the involvement of mammalian vocalization in reciprocal communication, socialization, and adaptive survival behavior. Acoustic features, neural regulation, and middle ear anatomy are considered in this polyvagal hypothesis.
Vagal Pathways: Portals to Compassion
Porges conceptualizes how ancient and ritualized contemplative practices such as chanting, prayer, meditation, and dance employ breathing, vocalization, and posture to shift into a physiological state mediated by the vagus nerve that enhances health and subjective experiences.
The Infant's Sixth Sense: awareness and regulation of bodily processes
The body's sixth sense, interoception is the sensing of internal bodily process and organs to support homeostasis through internal physiological mechanisms (Level 1), autonomic nervous system regulation from external challenges (Level 2), observable motor behavior (Level 3), and social interaction (Level 4). By measuring the vagus nerve, the proposed mechanism of interoception, we can better understand the conscious and unconscious static and shifting internal states of infants.
The Infant's Sixth Sense: awareness and regulation of bodily processes
The body's sixth sense, interoception is the sensing of internal bodily process and organs to support homeostasis through internal physiological mechanisms (Level 1), autonomic nervous system regulation from external challenges (Level 2), observable motor behavior (Level 3), and social interaction (Level 4). By measuring the vagus nerve, the proposed mechanism of interoception, we can better understand the conscious and unconscious static and shifting internal states of infants.
Interviews
The Vagus: A mediator of behavioral and physiologic features associated with autism
Observations of autistic behaviors, facial expressions, and physiologic responses suggest challenges with the social engagement system and tendency towards defensive behaviors of mobilization and immobilization. This implicates the vagus nerve in the pathophysiology of autism including the dysregulation of the HPA Axis, the gut, and the immune system.
The Polyvagal Hypothesis: Common mechanisms mediating autonomic regulation, vocalizations, and listening
An application of the Polyvagal Theory to interpret the involvement of mammalian vocalization in reciprocal communication, socialization, and adaptive survival behavior. Acoustic features, neural regulation, and middle ear anatomy are considered in this polyvagal hypothesis.
Vagal Pathways: Portals to Compassion
Porges conceptualizes how ancient and ritualized contemplative practices such as chanting, prayer, meditation, and dance employ breathing, vocalization, and posture to shift into a physiological state mediated by the vagus nerve that enhances health and subjective experiences.
Vagal Pathways: Portals to Compassion
Porges conceptualizes how ancient and ritualized contemplative practices such as chanting, prayer, meditation, and dance employ breathing, vocalization, and posture to shift into a physiological state mediated by the vagus nerve that enhances health and subjective experiences.
