Instantaneous Brain-to-Heart Functional Assessment using Inhomogeneous Point-process Models: a Proof of Concept Study

We introduce a new computational model for estimating the directional brain-heart interplay (BHI) in an instantaneous fashion using inhomogeneous point processes. Brain dynamics is considered as the exogenous input to a bivariate model predicting the first-order moment of an inverse-Gaussian function characterizing heartbeat dynamics continuously. Transfer entropy using brain- and heartbeat-related parameters finally quantifies the functional interplay from the brain to the heart. Here, we preliminarily evaluate our framework by studying heart rate variability (HRV) and electroencephalographic (EEG) series from 12 healthy subjects undergoing a cold-pressor test. Results suggest that cortical dynamics regulates heartbeat with specific time delays in the 30-60s and 90-120s ranges.