Heart rate has natural fluctuations that are typically ascribed to autonomic function. Recent evidence suggests that conscious processing can affect the timing of the heartbeat. We hypothesized that heart rate is modulated by conscious processing and therefore dependent on attentional focus. To test this, we leverage the observation that neural processes synchronize between subjects by presenting an identical narrative stimulus. As predicted, we find significant inter-subject correlation of heart rate (ISC-HR) when subjects are presented with an auditory or audiovisual narrative. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that ISC-HR is reduced when subjects are distracted from the narrative, and higher ISC-HR predicts better recall of the narrative. Finally, patients with disorders of consciousness have lower ISC-HR, as compared to healthy individuals. We conclude that heart rate fluctuations are partially driven by conscious processing, depend on attentional state, and may represent a simple metric to assess conscious state in unresponsive patients.

心率具有通常归因于自主神经功能的自然波动。最近的证据表明，有意识的处理可以影响心跳的时间。我们假设心率受到有意识处理的调节，因此取决于注意力集中。为了测试这一点，我们利用观察到的神经过程通过呈现相同的叙事刺激在受试者之间同步。正如预测的那样，当受试者被呈现听觉或视听叙述时，我们发现心率（ISC-HR）的显着受试者间相关性。与我们的假设一致，我们发现当受试者从叙述中分心时，ISC-HR 会降低，而更高的 ISC-HR 预示着对叙述的更好回忆。最后，意识障碍患者的 ISC-HR 较低，与健康人相比。我们得出结论，心率波动部分是由意识处理驱动的，取决于注意力状态，并且可能代表一个简单的指标来评估无反应患者的意识状态。