Peripheral physiological biomarkers of autonomic nervous system activity for assessing cognition and mental health: insights from brain imaging

Le résumé fourni par la source

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) receives input from various regions of the central nervous system (CNS) to regulate unconscious bodily functions. Respiratory and heart rate variability (HRV), as key peripheral physiological indicators, are modulated by the ANS. This regulation influences cardiac and respiratory rhythms across different frequency bands. Traditional research commonly uses 0.15 Hz as a cutoff, dividing signals into low-frequency (LF; 0.04 - 0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF; 0.15 - 0.4 Hz) bands. However, this approach may obscure potential effects occurring near the 0.15 Hz threshold. Therefore, we subdivided the frequency into low (0.04 - 0.12 Hz), intermediate (IM; 0.12 - 0.18 Hz), and high (0.18 - 0.4 Hz) frequency bands for further investigation. In neuroimaging studies, peripheral physiological indicators within the LF, IM, and HF bands can predict localized brain activity associated with neural responses elicited by external stimuli. We explored the interaction between ANS regulation and event-related brain activity by analyzing the power of HRV and respiration frequency bands across various stimuli. Audiovisual perception and behavioral engagement induced physiological fluctuations and stimulated brain activity. At the onset of the stimulus, correlations between event-related brain activation and respiration were most pronounced in the IM and LF bands. As the stimulus intensity increased, HRV-related correlations predominated, with significant differences observed among the LF, IM and HF bands. Based on these observations, we further investigated the IM band in a cognitive reappraisal paradigm involving individuals with psychiatric conditions. By analyzing the relationship between emotional neural activity and cardiorespiratory dynamics within the IM band, we assessed patients’ psychological states. Compared to healthy controls, patients showed stronger coupling between ANS activity and emotion-related neural responses, particularly in the domain of respiration. Notably, prefrontal cortex activity was closely associated with IM-band physiological modulation in the patient group. These findings highlight the potential utility of peripheral physiological signals—especially within the IM band—as biomarkers for emotional dysregulation. Further research is warranted to explore their clinical relevance for mental health assessment and the detection of undiagnosed affective disorders.

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