BLOGCAST: The post is recorded by Morten Winkler. Listen to the blog here (07:44):
In recent years, research into emotions and their basis and connection with the autonomic nervous system has significantly improved the understanding of the tenth cranial nerve, also called the vagus. The vagus nerve is a crucial factor in the parasympathetic nervous system – regulation of immobilization and relaxation. The central idea of the theory is that the autonomic nervous system consists of three parts instead of the well-known and just described two, namely that the parasympathetic nerve consists of two 'branches':
- The dorsal vagus (parasympathetic) is linked to the oldest survival strategy (500 – 600 million years old) – to lie still when threatened – to die. The dorsal vagus supports, among other things, rest, digestion, regeneration and manages immobilization behavior and relaxation.
- Sympatheticus – mobilization and the survival strategy is fight/flight (350 – 400 million years old) – also supports curiosity, intention, anger, courage, leadership and – excitement.
- The ventral vagus (parasympathetic) also called the social vagus (150 – 200 million years old) – the survival strategy is attachment developed when animals began to give birth to ”unfinished” young. In us humans, the ventral vagus supports, among other things, contact and engagement with the environment. This social vagus connects the heart and the cranial nerves that control the muscles around the eyes and in the face, including the mouth, voice and inner ear, all as part of helping with social communication through the behaviors used to translate emotions.
The old parts of the autonomic nervous system (dorsal vagus and sympathetic) are a self-organizing either-or system – i.e. when one branch, e.g. sympathetic, is active, the other, parasympathetic, is passive – and vice versa. It's like a pendulum.
The newest branch (ventral vagus) is a boat and system – i.e. that the ventral vagus can simultaneously regulate tension-building energy coupled with being safe and relaxed inside.
Bio-physiologically, we have and contain processes that are about survival and reproduction – a self-organizing immediate process, among other things structured by the amygdala via pattern recognition. We are born into this dynamic, as reproduction and survival for the species – and we survive the first years because we are given care – taken away.
HUMAN NATURE AND SURVIVAL
We humans are born with prerequisites for contact – a small newborn arrives with pre-programming in the right hemisphere of the brain to meet and experience the world via the senses – for example through the eyes to make contact, read facial expressions, mimicry and gestures. During the first years, tens of thousands of small and large contact experiences are collected and organized into an inner focus – into an ego.
The many experiences are first arranged non-verbally in the nervous system and this happens via the amygdala after pattern recognition. Similar experiences are "bundled" together and over time form an emotional model. With the maturation of the hippocampus (processing of time, space, place - meaning) these are expanded with mental perception models - language and life history start here.
CONNECTION AND SECURITY
The attachment process in the first years of a human's life is a crucial factor in the survival system of the species. Homo Sapiens as a species is supported by vital structures deep in the nervous system that have to do with social engagement and community - something that the most recently added survival strategy - the ventral vagus - precisely unfolds and actualizes via the structured and protective qualities of community. Belonging in a common framework characterized by a safe and trusting atmosphere are keys to understanding the innovative power of cooperation.
The social vagus also connects the face and the heart and is crucial for the attachment between mother and child – this survival strategy became necessary, among other things, when mammals began to give birth to incomplete young – and it therefore became crucial for the species that upbringing and maturation took place as safely as possible. Contact and attachment are crucial. Deep attachment creates security. Contact, attachment and security become, over time, a basic trust. The ventral vagus thus first establishes an external relational secure base in the contact between mother and child.
AMYGDALA AND THE SURVIVAL SYSTEM
The thousands of small and large experiences during the first years modulated by this secure external attachment simultaneously land in the young child's memory system where they are organized according to pattern recognition (amygdala) and – as mentioned – when there are enough in a cluster of experiences, an emotional model is established. The quality of the secure attachment is built in this way directly into the emotional models of the survival system – this accumulated field of experienced plus/minus experiences forms the basic orientation/warning system – which constantly – automatically scans situations/space/landscape – to monitor whether there is anything disturbing going on. The ventral vagus thus establishes over time an internally anchored secure base of trust.
The social engagement system (the ventral vagus) is thus what regulates all forms of inter-social processes. The security of belonging – of feeling connected – is an integral part of the ability to bond. Our species – Homo Sapiens – has vital and refined structures deep down in the survival system that have to do with social engagement and community. Yes, one could actually see it this way, that this latest survival strategy is precisely about the security of the structuring and protective power of community. There is direct access to the autonomic nervous system through breathing and the heart.
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment; there are consequences.
– Robert G. Ingersoll
The polyvagal theory clarifies how security and reciprocity are biologically encoded in us. We humans are a social species and we have survived and evolved precisely by being deeply embedded in the security of a community. Such communities are complex societies that rely on attachment, trust, predictability – and the key to this is nuanced communication – linguistic and not least non-linguistic.
NEXT POST: TRAUMA AND RESTORING BALANCE AND RESILIENCE
In the next post, Michael focuses on trauma and restoring balance and resilience, and on trauma as a habit and the support we can get from contact with nature. Follow the link below to read along:
Michael Stubberup, cand.mag and head of SYNerGAIA.
Co-founder and vice-chairman of the Association for Children's Life Skills. He has 20 years of experience as a manager. Established SYNerGAIA Rehabilitation in 1999 and is currently the acting chairman of the board. He has also been responsible for development and continuing education in SYNerGAIA Innovation. Together with Steen Hildebrandt, he has also founded Sustainable Co-Creation. Michael is one of Vækstcenteret's permanent teachers.
This blog series about the nervous system is taken from the book Social Sustainability – Everyday Expressions of Trauma – and Restoring Balance, edited and arranged for Kontemplation's blog.
Illustration: Ninni Sodahl / Photo: Zoe Graham
