Computational methods to estimate brain-heart interactions

The communication between the brain and the heart mediates physiological and cognitive functions.
One of the challenges is to measure these interactions in a non-invasive manner. Therefore, the development of new methodological approaches to estimate brain-heart interplay is of utmost importance.

Estimation of brain-heart interlay through synthetic data generation models

D. Candia-Rivera, V. Catrambone, J. Thayer, C. Gentili and G. Valenza (2022)

Cardiac sympathetic-vagal activity initiates a functional brain-body response to emotional arousal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Heart rate modeling and brain-to-heart estimation

The interplay from the brain to the heart is quantified through a model of synthetic heartbeat intervals, based on an integral pulse frequency modulation model.
Synthetic heartbeats are modeled as Dirac functions, triggered by the integral of a modulation function 𝑚(𝑡), where a new R peak is generated when the integral function reaches a threshold.

EEG modeling and heart-to-brain estimation

The interplay from the heart to the brain is quantified through a model based of synthetic EEG series using an adaptive Markov process.
The changes on EEG are modelled as fluctuations in EEG power at different frequency bands.
The influences of heartbeat dynamics are modelled as an external input in an ARX process.

D. Candia-Rivera, V. Catrambone R. Barbieri, and G. Valenza (2022).

Functional assessment of bidirectional cortical and peripheral neural control on heartbeat dynamics: a brain-heart study on thermal stress

Neuroimage.

This version of the model utilizes estimators of Sympathetic and Parasympathetic activitties using Laguerre polynomials

D. Candia-Rivera (2022).

Modeling brain-heart interactions from Poincaré plot-derived measures of sympathetic-vagal activity

MethodsX

This version of the model utilizes estimators of Sympathetic and Parasympathetic activities using Poincaré plot ellipse ratios