1.8.0

Scientific Community vs. Polyvagal Theory

Here, I present a broad category of respected neuroanatomists and neuroscientists who do not engage with PVT and remain focused on their specific research. This includes Butler, Hodos, Nieuwenhuys, Puelles, Kaas, Striedter, Dunbar, Roth, Bears, Bieger, and others.

Most of them ignore the term “polyvagal.” As they are firmly anchored in their discipline (e.g., neuroanatomists, physiologists, molecular biologists, or genetics specialists), their expertise on the topics described by the Polyvagal Theory is extremely valuable. Their epistemology is rigorous and explicit. They set themselves the goal of testing a hypothesis, conducting experiments or reviewing the scientific literature, analyzing the results, and critically discussing their findings. Research on a topic is an organic process that continues over the years. New studies constantly challenge the old and bring new facts, perspectives, or interpretations. Recently, new technologies (e.g., genetic and molecular biology) have revolutionized the field of biology and neuroscience. While PVT ignores them and remains static, neuroscience constantly changes and advances rapidly.

When I started researching for this project, I first had to brush up on the basics of biology, anatomy, and physiology. I purchased heavy textbooks or could download entire e-books from the nearest university library. The goal was not to read all the chapters page by page, but to get a general idea of the current knowledge. There were so many old concepts about evolution, physiology, or neuroscience that I had to take these books off the shelf countless times to ensure I wasn’t dreaming. Yes, fish have a nucleus ambiguus (or analog). Yes, protomammals (synapsids) and sauropsids diverged 325 million years ago. These manuals and high-level scientific articles helped me build a solid knowledge base before challenging the Triune Brain and the Polyvagal Theory.

1.8.1

Anatomy

To challenge the PVT, one must acquire notions of comparative anatomy. Six names dominate the field: Rudolf Nieuwenhuys, Luis Puelles, Ann Butler, William Hodos, George Paxinos, R. Glenn Northcutt, Georg Striedter, and Jon Kaas.

Rudolph Nieuwenhuyys is a Dutch anatomist who, alone or with co-authors, has published the most complete handbooks on The Central Nervous System of the Vertebrates (1998) and The Human Central Nervous System (2008, 4th ed.). Together with Luis Puelles, he published Towards a New Neuromorphology (2016), a book that revolutionizes the way we understand embryology. Sources: Researchgate, Thriftbooks, and Wikipedia (Nieuwenhuys).


Ann Butler and William Hodos have published Comparative vertebrate neuroanatomy : evolution and adaptation (Butler, 2005). This gem of a book has been a tremendous help in our research, with extraordinary graphics that allow a three-dimensional understanding of the evolution of the vertebrate brain. 

Jon Kaas has published three monumental works, combining many contributions from specialists in biology with Striedter’s regular contributions. 

  • Evolution of Nervous Systems: A Comprehensive Reference (Kaas, Striedter, Rubenstein, 2007)

  • Neocortex in early mammals and its subsequent variations (Kaas, 2011)

  • The evolution of brains from early mammals to humans (Kaas, 2013)

  • Evolution of nervous systems  (Kaas, 2017)

  • Evolutionary Neuroscience   (Kaas, 2020)

  • Brains through time: a natural history of vertebrates (Striedter, 2020).

A few other names dominate the anatomy of the last century. We have already seen the names of Bieger and Hopkins. Jones, McAllen, Spyers, Jordan, Coote, and Northcutt are important. More recently, Paxinos has made a name for himself. This short list doesn’t include many other anatomists whose names will appear in later chapters.

In the last two decades, researchers have used new techniques: molecular dissection and optogenetic techniques — e.g., Machhada (London) and Veerakumar (Stanford) – that are influencing our anatomical understanding of the lower brainstem. 

1.8.2

Physiology

I have already mentioned the names of Paul Grossman and Taylor. There are numerous Heart Rate Variability (HRV) specialists, such as Berntson, Grossman, Bigger, and Thayer, J. F. Some have worked with Grossman, Porges, or both. Also very influential is Alexandre Gourine — with Macchada and Booth.

Alexandre Gourine

Alexandre Gourine is a Professor of Physiology at University College London and a neuroscientist who has inspired many younger researchers in addition to his own contributions.  See (Mastitskaya, 2012), (Machhada, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020), (Booth, 2021). The publications with Machhada and Booth as first authors were illuminating for this project. 

Julian F. Thayer

Over the past decades, Julian F. Thayer is, beside Porges, practically the only author to have proposed in several publications a global model integrating the autonomic nervous system and the central nervous system (CNS). In presenting his model (Thayer, 2000), he quotes only the early works of Porges (in 1991 and 1992).

Cardiac coherence, self-regulation, autonomic stability, and psychosocial well-being (McCraty, 2014), reviewed by Julian Thayer himself, places side-to-side Porges and Thayer models without much of a position. However, it refers uniquely to Porges (2007).

In later publications, Thayer surprisingly doesn’t mention Porges or the PVT, although their interests overlap in many ways. 2019, he received the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Distinguished Scientist Award, the most prestigious honor granted by the organization. In 2023, he has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest distinctions accorded to professionals in the medical sciences, healthcare and public health.

Among his many interests is his research on the relationship between compassion, HRV, and the vagus nerve. More compassionate people have greater vagus nerve activity, as indexed by variability between heartbeats. They are more forgiving of others' transgressions. "What we're finding is that when people are treated unfairly, they have to regulate their emotions," Thayer explains. "In particular, they have to inhibit their anger at unfair treatment. And interestingly, paradoxically, these people also have higher heart rate variability."

Thayer's presentation at the Wisconsin Symposium on Emotion (April 20-24), Stress, Resilience, and Mental Health: A Neurovisceral Integration Perspective.

It is perhaps not trivial to note that despite his influential contribution to the physiology of the autonomic system, Thayer does not have a Wikipedia entry or a personal website.

1.8.3

Theodore P. Beauchaine

An interesting case is Beauchaine, who tried to prove that the HVR (a central topic of the PVT) was related to social competence. Beauchaine later backtracked and became much more cautious in his assumptions. Polyvagal Theory and developmental psychopathology: emotion dysregulation and conduct problems from preschool to adolescence (2007), Heart rate variability as a transdiagnostic biomarker of psychopathology (2015, with Thayer), Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity across empirically based structural dimensions of psychopathology: A meta-analysis (2019). He concluded in 2019 with this statement: «These findings indicate that associations between RSA reactivity and psychopathology are complex and suggest that future studies should include more standardized RSA assessments to increase external validity and decrease measurement error.»

1.8.4

Other fields

To complete our knowledge, I used various manuals in:

  • Cardiology

  • Neonatology, SID

  • Philosophy of sciences

  • Epistemology, Marketing, Narrative Economics, Rhetoric

  • Social psychology

  • Physics 

  • Biology: Cell Biology, Molecular Biology

A complete list will be added later.