ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cardiac-somatic interrelationship. It discusses the issue of the independence of cardiac and somatic activity. The chapter provides a critical perspective on the cardiac-somatic interaction. The point to be made is that curarization is an effective control for somatic mediation only in regard to the first type of mediating mechanisms involving proprioceptive and metabolic effects resulting from the occurrence of somatic activity. Although the evidence just presented quite consistently indicates a coupling of heart rate to somatic activity in a variety of behavioral paradigms, it is commonly assumed that behavioral processes can influence the heart independent of somatic activity. In those behavioral paradigms where heart rate and somatic activity are found to be related, a consideration of the cardiac-somatic relationship offers several advantages. In the developmental study, the coupling of heart rate and somatic activity seems to be manifested more consistently with regard to more extensive somatic acts, such as body movements.
