Neural mechanisms involved in cardiovascular control during affective behaviour

The changes in respiration and cardiovascular output seen during mammalian defensive behaviour are no longer considered to be the product of simple reflexes. Nuclei in the diencephalon (in particular, in the hypothalamus and amygdala) are involved in controlling defence reactions. In this article, K. M. Spyer describes the evidence illustrating the actions of these descending influences and discusses the potential for future modelling paradigms in relation to cardiovascular control.