Cardiovascular Asymmetries and Cardiac Perception

Two strategies for evaluating the lateral specificity of cardiac sensory innervation were reviewed: (1) electrophysiological recording of cardiac-relevant cortical activity; and (2) behavioral assessment of right versus left differences in cardiac sensory perception. Electrophysiological data from two different laboratories suggest strongly that there is a link between cardiac events and cortical response to stimulation, but only for the right hemisphere. Two experiments from our laboratory suggest that there is a complex relationship among cerebral lateral preference, assessed by conjugate lateral eye movements, arousal, and individual differences in accuracy of self-perception of heart beats. The data, overall, suggest that the right hemisphere is involved specifically in heartbeat perception.