Is the Polyvagal Theory over?

Scientific debate since a publication in early 2026 has put into question the groundbreaking neurophysiological theory that has based many somatic practitioners’ work. The creator of the theory himself, though, has refuted some of the criticism. Keep reading for more.

The triune brain was proposed by US Americanphysician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean in the 1960s, and has been largely disputed since the 1970s as a viable scientific theory. As seen in the image below, the trimembered brain elicits a co-evolutionary model of the brain, in which

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Credit: Chat GPT

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, describes the origins of the triune brain in Plato’s philosophy, in which the idea of two horses representing one’s instincts and emotions being controlled by a charioteer, whose representation of rationality controlled them both, laid out the metaphoric basis for an initial explanation of the human brain’s structure and function.

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Credit: Chat GPT