Introduction
depressed, NCT03458910
DISORDER, HEART, EDWARDS, CORTEX
Previous studies have found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a key role in regulating both heart rate variability (HRV) and emotions (Thayer et al., One fascinating question is whether some brain circuits regulate both heart rate and emotion. Consistent with this possibility, higher heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with more effective emotion regulation (Pinna & Edwards, In a recent randomized 7-week clinical trial (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03458910 “Heart Rate Variability and Emotion Regulation” or HRV-ER), we tested the hypothesis that 5 weeks of HRV biofeedback would affect resting amygdala-mPFC functional connectivity (Nashiro et al., Ventromedial PFC is associated with both HRV and positive affect. Ventromedial PFC is both associated with heart rate variability (HRV) Participants completed the biofeedback training in daily sessions over the course of several weeks before completing a recall and recognition memory task for positive, negative and neutral pictures. This memory task was an additional measure in our clinical trial (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03458910; for this task see “Other Outcome Measures” #5–6). The underlying mechanistic model we were interested in testing was that daily sessions involving high heart rate oscillations (Osc+ condition) can affect mPFC function, which in turn affects emotional biases that influence retrieval without conscious effort to favor positive or negative memories. The relative degree of recall and recognition of positive versus negative memories is influenced by automatic emotional biases and can contribute to emotional well-being. For instance, depressed people show autobiographical memory biases favoring retrieval of negative over positive memories, with automatic intrusive memories of negative experiences characterizing the disorder (Dalgleish & Werner-Seidler, Thus, by modulating brain circuits known to be involved in emotion regulation (see Mather & Thayer, 