Giuliano Ryan J, Roos Leslie E, Farrar Jessica D, Skowron Elizabeth A
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
Dev Psychobiol. 2018 Apr;60(3):324-332. doi: 10.1002/dev.21608. Epub 2018 Jan 18.
A child's cumulative risk for early exposure to stress has been linked to alterations of self-regulation outcomes, including neurobiological correlates of inhibitory control (IC). We examined whether children's ability to engage the parasympathetic nervous system impacts how risk affects IC. Children ages 3-5 years completed two laboratory measures of IC while respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured, indexing parasympathetic activity. Children with greater risk demonstrated lower IC; risk also moderated associations between RSA reactivity and IC. For children with less risk, greater RSA withdrawal during IC tasks was associated with better IC. In contrast, greater risk was associated with poor IC, regardless of RSA withdrawal. Effects of risk were more pronounced for cumulative than individual measures. Results suggest that cumulative risk exposure disrupts connectivity between physiological and behavioral components of self-regulation in early childhood. Parasympathetic withdrawal to cognitive tasks may be less relevant for performance in developmental samples experiencing greater life stress.
儿童早期暴露于压力下的累积风险与自我调节结果的改变有关，包括抑制控制（IC）的神经生物学相关性。我们研究了儿童参与副交感神经系统的能力是否会影响风险对抑制控制的作用。3至5岁的儿童在测量呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA）（作为副交感神经活动指标）的同时完成了两项抑制控制的实验室测量。风险较高的儿童表现出较低的抑制控制能力；风险还调节了RSA反应性与抑制控制之间的关联。对于风险较低的儿童，在抑制控制任务中更大的RSA消退与更好的抑制控制能力相关。相比之下，无论RSA消退情况如何，更高的风险都与较差的抑制控制能力相关。累积风险的影响比个体风险测量更为显著。结果表明，累积风险暴露会破坏幼儿期自我调节的生理和行为成分之间的联系。对于经历更大生活压力的发育样本，副交感神经对认知任务的消退可能与表现的相关性较小。
