Vagal withdrawal as a function of audience.
De, Meersman, R., S. Reisman, M. Daum, and R. Zorowitz.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Columbia University, NY, NY 10032. The Kessler Institute
for Rehabilitation, West Orange, NJ 07052 and New Jersey Institute of
Technology, Newark, NJ 07102.
APStracts 2:0424H, 1995.
This investigation examined the effects of psychosocial influences
upon vagal cardiac activity. In this cross-over, counterbalanced
study, fifteen subjects were assesssed for vagal cardiac activity
prior to- and during a presentation in the presence- and/or absence
of an audience. Electrocardiograms (ECG) were collected throughout
the epochs of interest, using a portable holter monitor system. Power
spectral density analyses were used to decompose autonomic
rhythmicities of heart rate variability. Significantly diminished
vagal power was noted during pre-presentation and presentation
episodes with audience when compared to vagal power during a
presentation without an audience (p < 0.05).
Received 25 April 1995; accepted in final form 14 September 1995.
APS Manuscript Number H385-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Heart Circ. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 31 October 95