the sympathetic and parasympathetic outflow from the brain to the heart issubstantially reducedreduced to such a degree that the amplitude of HRV waveform becomesvery low. The other logical possibility is that the heart acts as an antenna to a field of informationbeyond space and time surrounding the body that directly informs the heart and modulates itsrhythmic patterns. As astounding as this may sound, there is compelling evidence from our studyof the electrophysiology of intuition that points in this direction (McCraty, Atkinson, & Bradley,2004a, 2004b).On the negative side, there is a hyper-state in which the individual is consumed by powerfulmalevolent feelings of extreme ill-will and hatred. These ego-centric feelings occupy virtually allof the individuals time and energy and engage ones whole attention. Typically, these feelingsof evil and harm are not directed inwards against the self, but, instead, are projected outwards tobe expressed as an intense pathological desire to cause great pain and suffering to others.Sustained, fanatical feelings of ill-will toward others can propel an individual into this hyper-state. Subjectively, there is a substantial reduction in mental and emotional chatter and acorrespondingly heightened state of calm, malevolent feelings. The emotional calm reflects theindividuals disassociation from the humanity of others and the total acceptance of the all-consuming negative thoughts and emotions experienced in this state. We expect this hyper-stateto be one that can be entered by individuals who hold fanatical beliefs based on extreme negativestereotypes or caricatures of others. This is often the case with radical groups on the margins ofsociety who see themselves suffering a great injustice or harm from the hands of those they hate.Physiologically, this hyper-state likely involves a zombie-like state in which there is suchemotional disassociation that the amplitude of HRV waveform becomes very low but with somevariability spikes which may reflect the individuals momentary transitions between differentemotions.To conclude, the typology provides a more general conceptual framework from which to viewthe six modes of psychophysiological interaction we identified in our empirical studies. We havefound the typology a useful way of conceptually organizing the broad range and highly variablephenomena in this domain. It will be up to future research to test the degree to which thetypology offers a fruitful map of the nature and organization of the different types of emotionalphysiological interaction.Heart Coherence and Psychophysiological FunctionSo far, we have discussed how changes in the patterns of neural activity can encode andtransmit information in the psychophysiological networks independent of changes in the amountof activity and how this level of information processing may well play a more fundamental rolein information exchange than changes in the amount and/or intensity of neural activity. In thissection we will see that increased coherence is associated with favorable changes in variousaspects of physiological function, which in turn are associated with psychological benefits. Weintroduce this discussion by describing how the amount of information traveling through theafferent nerves increases during coherence, and we then examine the role that cardiac afferentINTEGRAL REVIEWDecember 2009Vol. 5, No. 2input plays in the neural pathways involved in pain perception, respiratory function, emotionalprocessing, and cognitive performance.The vagus nerve is a major conduit though which afferent neurological signals