Research Unit of Legal Psychiatry and Psychology, Lausanne University Hospital, Route de Cery 1, Lausanne, 1008, Prilly, Switzerland.
Department of Primary Care and Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Sci Rep. 2022 May 3;12(1):7126. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-10872-y.
Dynamics of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are hypothesized to play a role in the emergence of interpersonal violence. In the present study, we examined continuous activities of the inhibitory parasympathetic pathway of the ANS through the root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats (RMSSD) in 22 male offenders who committed interpersonal violence and 24 matched controls from the general population across three successive phases: resting baseline, while performing an emotional Go/No-Go task, and post-task recovery. Results showed that across the three phases, the offender group presented lower RMSSD at baseline (p = .003; Cohen's d = - 1.11), but similar levels during the task, attributed to a significant increase in their RMSSD level (p = .027, Cohen's d = - 1.26). During recovery, while no distinction between the two groups was found, both groups showed signs of recovering toward baseline values. These findings suggest that violent incarcerated offenders can flexibly engage parasympathetic resources to meet environmental challenges. This underscores the necessity of considering parasympathetic dynamics and its respective mobilization/flexibility to better understand ANS profiles underlying interpersonal violence as well as its potential utility in designing more tailored interventions.
自主神经系统（ANS）的动力学被假设在人际暴力的出现中起作用。在本研究中，我们通过正常心跳之间的连续差异的均方根（RMSSD）来检查 ANS 的抑制性副交感神经通路的连续活动，该研究纳入了 22 名实施人际暴力的男性罪犯和 24 名来自普通人群的匹配对照者，横跨三个连续阶段：休息基线、执行情绪 Go/No-Go 任务时和任务后恢复。结果表明，在三个阶段中，罪犯组在基线时表现出较低的 RMSSD（p=0.003；Cohen's d=-1.11），但在任务期间水平相似，这归因于他们的 RMSSD 水平显著增加（p=0.027，Cohen's d=-1.26）。在恢复期间，尽管两组之间没有发现区别，但两组都表现出向基线值恢复的迹象。这些发现表明，暴力监禁罪犯可以灵活地利用副交感资源来应对环境挑战。这突显出考虑副交感神经动力学及其各自的动员/灵活性以更好地理解人际暴力背后的自主神经特征以及其在设计更具针对性的干预措施中的潜在效用的必要性。
