Vagal Tone & Social Engagement: How Connection Works | MindLAB Neuroscience

Vagal Tone and Social Engagement: Why Your Nervous System Decides Whether You Can Connect Vagal tone — the strength of your parasympathetic vagus nerve output — is the biological substrate of social engagement. It decides whether your nervous system can downshift from sympathetic mobilization into genuine connection, or whether you remain locked in a high-functioning performance state that mimics presence without delivering it. ...

May 5, 2026 · 20 min · 4181 words · Dr. Sydney Ceruto