title: Children's narratives and patterns of cardiac reactivity.
abstract: The present study examines the associations between narrative processing, narrative production, and cardiac rate and variability in children. Heart period (HP) and vagal tone (VT) were computed for fifty-eight 7-year-olds (29 males) during a resting baseline and during epochs in which the children listened to and completed a selected set of story-stems from the MacArthur Story-Stem Battery (I. Bretherton, D. Oppenheim, H. Buchsbaum, R. N. Emde, & the MacArthur Narrative Group, 1990). Significant decreases in HP and VT were observed between a resting baseline and epochs of story-stem presentation by the experimenter. In addition, HP was shorter and VT lower during children's narrative production to emotionally laden story-stems compared with narration to a neutral story-stem. Furthermore, narrative and cardiac responses to stories containing separation-reunion themes reflected increased emotional and cognitive load compared with responses to stories that did not contain such themes. Finally, children who showed VT suppression in response to emotion-laden stories produced more coherent and adaptive narratives compared to those of children who did not show VT suppression. The findings suggest interplay between the cognitive-emotional processes associated with narrative processing and production and cardiac activation patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel-Aviv, Israel 69978. yair1@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Yair
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bar-Haim
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Kirsten M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: VanMeenen
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001146:Arrhythmia, Sinus / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology