Posts tagged "dorsal motor nucleus"

Two Vagal Engines: Nucleus Ambiguus vs. the Dorsal Motor Nucleus

Your vagus does not have one motor source — it has two, in different brainstem nuclei, built at different points in evolution. One is a fast, myelinated engine for the heart and voice; the other is an old, slow engine for the gut and the shutdown state. This is the real anatomy under Polyvagal Theory.