Sullivan Margaret Wolan
School of Nursing, Rutgers Biomedical & Health Sciences-Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, 07101.
Dev Psychobiol. 2016 Apr;58(3):366-81. doi: 10.1002/dev.21376. Epub 2015 Oct 30.
This study used contingency learning to examine changes in infants' vagal tone during learning and its disruption. The heart rate of 160 five-month-old infants was recorded continuously during the first of two training sessions as they experienced an audiovisual event contingent on their pulling. Maternal reports of infant temperament were also collected. Baseline vagal tone, a measure of parasympathetic regulation of the heart, was related to vagal levels during the infants' contingency learning session, but not to their learner status. Vagal tone levels did not vary significantly over session minutes. Instead, vagal tone levels were a function of both individual differences in learner status and infant soothability. Vagal levels of infants who learned in the initial session were similar regardless of their soothability; however, vagal levels of infants who learned in a subsequent session differed as a function of soothability. Additionally, vagal levels during contingency disruption were significantly higher among infants in this group who were more soothable as opposed to those who were less soothable. The results suggest that contingency learning and disruption is associated with stable vagal tone in the majority of infants, but that individual differences in attention processes and state associated with vagal tone may be most readily observed during the disruption phase.
本研究采用偶联学习来检验婴儿在学习过程中迷走神经张力的变化及其受到的干扰。在两次训练课程的第一次中，当160名五个月大的婴儿经历与他们拉动动作相关的视听事件时，持续记录他们的心率。还收集了母亲对婴儿气质的报告。基线迷走神经张力是衡量心脏副交感神经调节的指标，它与婴儿偶联学习过程中的迷走神经水平有关，但与他们的学习者状态无关。迷走神经张力水平在各训练分钟内没有显著变化。相反，迷走神经张力水平是学习者状态的个体差异和婴儿安抚性的共同作用结果。在初始课程中学习的婴儿，无论其安抚性如何，迷走神经水平都相似；然而，在后续课程中学习的婴儿，其迷走神经水平因安抚性不同而有所差异。此外，在偶联干扰期间，该组中更易安抚的婴儿的迷走神经水平显著高于较难安抚的婴儿。结果表明，偶联学习和干扰与大多数婴儿稳定的迷走神经张力有关，但在干扰阶段可能最容易观察到与迷走神经张力相关的注意力过程和状态的个体差异。
