AUTHOR=Taggart Peter , Lambiase Pier 

TITLE=Anger, Emotion, and Arrhythmias: from Brain to Heart

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2011

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2011.00067

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2011.00067

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>Strong emotion and mental stress are now recognized as playing a significant role in severe and fatal ventricular arrhythmias. The mechanisms, although incompletely understood, include central processing at the cortical and brain stem level, the autonomic nerves and the electrophysiology of the myocardium. Each of these is usually studied separately by investigators from different disciplines. However, many are regulatory processes which incorporate interactive feedforward and feedback mechanisms. In this review we consider the whole as an integrated interactive brain–heart system.</p>