Heart Attract

Heart Attract© is a series of artworks based on attractor graphs of heart rates of people involved in different mental experiences. The path represents the unfolding heart rate dynamics, and it is interesting to note that specific features of what is captured in this representation is used to measure “Heart Rate Variability” (HRV), an important concept in neuroscience and medicine that is related to the health of the nervous system.

**Subject n°1**: Lying Heart.
Subject n°1: Lying Heart.

Heart rate of a subject performing a deception task, requiring attention, planning and decision making. The heart rate dynamics reveal a focused and directed variability, creating a funnel-shaped pattern.

**Subject n°2**: Resting Heart.
Subject n°2: Resting Heart.

Heart rate of a subject at rest, eyes closed, sitting in a dark room. Variability is strong and ample. The dynamics is loose and the heart often wanders away freely, following the wandering mind.

**Subject n°4-5**: Two Hearts Colliding.
Subject n°4-5: Two Hearts Colliding.

The rate of two hearts recorded simultaneously with the two subjects sitting side by side, silently reflecting on their shared journey. Left subject has a leaf shape, denoting slow and steady changes of heart rate. Right subject has a round shape, suggesting faster - yet cyclical - variability. The red shading indicates moments of high cross-coherence, when the two hearts beat in a synchronized manner.