Open AccessHeart rhythm variation during affective pictures viewing in women in different phases of the menstrual cycle
Author(s) -
В. І. Кравченко,
K. Yu. Demidova
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
vestnik kievskogo nacionalʹnogo universiteta imeni tarasa ševčenko/vìsnik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2308-8036
pISSN - 1728-3817
DOI - 10.17721/1728_2748.2020.80.35-40
Subject(s) - rhythm , menstrual cycle , heart rate variability , autonomic nervous system , luteal phase , follicular phase , international affective picture system , cardiac cycle , psychology , audiology , heart rate , medicine , cardiology , neuroscience , arousal , blood pressure , hormone
The peculiarities of the dynamics of the spectral indices of cardiac rhythm variability in 32 women 17-23 years of age while viewing emotional IAPS (International affective picture system) images in different phases of the menstrual cycle were studied. It is shown that the differences in the regulation of the heart rhythm associated with viewing emotional images of different types are manifested mainly in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. During this period, significant differences in viewing emotional images of different types were found in the absolute and relative power of the very low-frequency (VLF) and high-frequency (HF) component of the spectrum. In the ovulation phase, emotion-sensitive markerwas a lowfrequency spectrum component (LF), reflecting the effect of the sympathetic nervous system on cardiac rhythm. This indicator was significantly higher when viewing unpleasant images compared to pleasant and erotic visual stimuli.The contribution of the sympathetic division to the regulation of cardiac rhythm was observed during viewing of negative and neutral images, and only the viewing of erotic images was characterized by an increase in parasympathetic activity, which was accompaniedwith the increased power of the high-frequency component of the spectrum (HF) reducing the proportion of LF/HF and respiratory rate. The study shows that during the menstrual cycle, the autonomic balance shifts toward the predominance of sympathetic regulation of the heart rhythm, which reaches a maximum in the luteal phase. In this regard, the activity level of the sympathetic link recorded by the power of the low-frequency (LF) component while viewing unpleasant images was the lowest in the follicular phase and the highest in the luteal one. No significant differences were found between the spectral indices of cardio-interval variability when viewing emotional images in the luteal phase, indicating that this period of the cycle was low informative to assess the characteristics of women's emotional response based on heart rate analysis.