Stephen Porges

Stephen Porges
Born 1945
New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Residence Bloomington, Indiana
Nationality American
Fields Behavioral Neuroscience
Institutions Indiana University, University of North Carolina
Alma mater Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; USA
Known for The Polyvagal Theory

Stephen W. Porges is a "Distinguished University Scientist" at the Kinsey Institute, Indiana University Bloomington and professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Prior to moving to North Carolina, Professor Porges directed the Brain-Body Center in the department of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he also held appointments in the departments of psychology, bioEngineering, and worked as an adjunct in the department of neurosocience which he found suited him and it became his priority. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Porges served as chair of the department of human development and director of the institute for child study. He is a former president of the Society for psychophysiological Research and has been president of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences (now called the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences), a consortium of societies representing approximately twenty-thousand biobehavioral scientists. He was a recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development award. He has chaired the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, maternal and child health research committee and was a visiting scientist in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Laboratory of Comparative Ethology. He was awarded a patent on a methodology to describe neural regulation of the heart, and today is a lead neuroscientist with particular interests in cranial nerve responses as it relates to both animal and man in which there are specified responses that are physiological in the body. In 1994 he proposed the polyvagal theory providing insight into the mechanism mediating symptoms observed in the brain. The theory has stimulated research and treatments emphasizing the importance of physiological state and behavioral regulation.

Stephen Porges is married to C. Sue Carter, a world leader in the role of neuropetides oxytocin and vasopressin in social cognition. They have two sons, Eric and Seth Porges.

Major accomplishments

Polyvagal Theory

Main article: Polyvagal Theory

Polyvagal introduces perspective relating to autonomic function of behavior including an appreciation of the autonomic nervous system as a system, the identification of neural circuits involved in the regulation of autonomic state and interpretation of autonomic reactivity as adaptive within the context of the phylogeny of the vertebrate autonomic nervous system,[1] explores paradigms, explanations, and conclusions regarding the role that autonomic function has in the regulation of affective states and social behavior. Foremost, the polyvagal perspective emphasizes the importance of phylogenetic changes in the neural structures regulating the heart [2] and phylogenetic shifts providing insight into the adaptive function of both physiology and behavior. The theory emphasizes the phylogenetic emergence of two vagal systems: a potentially lethal ancient brain and cord circuits involved in defensive strategies of immobilization (e.g., fainting, freeze, fight) including dissociative states.[3][4] Polyvagal responses provided a new conceptualization of the autonomic nervous system that emphasize neurophysiological mechanisms and phylogenetic shifts in the neural regulation of the psychological responses from the cranial nerves to the spine, spinal cord and lower aspects of the mammalian brain.

In the advent of 2015 several updates to both the human and animal theories of polyvagal responses have been reported, and for the most part they have been by Stephen Porges, [3] however Frank M. Corrigan is a leader in the field, and he along with fellow authors of their 2011 text titled, Neurobiology and Treatment of Traumatic Dissociation Toward an Embodied Self have raised the bar by adding flight, feign polyvagal responses to what Porges has already presented. Both identifiers are important since they tag the dissociative disorders in such a way that gave the answers that were needed in order to move the field of psychology from a subjective art to a hard science using tools like PET and fMRI.[4]

Professional societies

Editorial duties

Selected works

Books

See also

Polyvagal theory

Dissociative disorders

Other disorders

General science

References

  1. ↑ Porges, S.W. (2003). The Polyvagal Theory: phylogenetic contributions to social behavior. Physiology and Behavior, 79, 503-513.
  2. ↑ Porges, S.W. (2007). The Polyvagal Perspective. Biological Psychology, 74, 116-143.
  3. 1 2 Porges, Stephen W. (2011). The polyvagal theory Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation (1st ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. p. 347. ISBN 0393707008.
  4. 1 2 Corrigan, Frank E. M. (2014). Neurobiology and treatment of traumatic dissociation toward an embodied self. New York: Springer. p. 510. ISBN 0826106315.
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