INTERPERSONAL HEART-BRAIN REGISTRATION AND THE PERCEPTION OF PARENTAL LOVE: A 42 YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF THE HARVARD MASTERY OF STRESS STUDY

Abstract

A dynamical energy systems approach to cardiac energy predicts that the registration of cardiac energy can occur between individuals, and that the degree of registration may be greater in persons who are more open to interpersonal information. As part of a 42 year follow-up to the Harvard Mastery of Stress study, 19 channels of EEG and the ECG were recorded during a 2 minute eyes closed resting baseline from 20 Harvard graduates currently in their 60's and from an experimenter who sat 3 feet in front of the subjects. Cardiac synchronized energy patterns were calculated in the subjects' EEGs separately triggered by the subjects' ECG and the experimenter's ECG. When the subjects' own ECG was used as the trigger, significant evidence of the subjects' ECG in the subjects' EEG was found, primarily in the posterior regions. When the experimenter's ECG was used as the trigger, significant evidence of the experimenter's ECG in the subjects' EEG was found, primarily in anterior regions, in subjects who rated themselves in college as having been raised by loving parents. These subjects were also significantly healthier in late adulthood than subjects who rated their parents "low in loving." Implications for theory and research in energy medicine are considered.