Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Psychophysiology. 2018 Aug;55(8):e13079. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13079. Epub 2018 Apr 6.
Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive and emotion regulation. However, few studies have directly examined the relationship between measures of autonomic physiology and brain activity during cognitive tasks, and fewer studies have examined both the parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic branches when doing so. Here, 93 adults completed an ERP auditory selective attention task concurrently with measures of parasympathetic activity (high-frequency heart rate variability; HF-HRV) and sympathetic activity (preejection period; PEP). We focus on the well-studied N1 ERP component to test for associations with baseline values of HF-HRV and PEP. Individuals with higher resting HF-HRV and shorter resting PEP showed larger effects of selective attention on their ERPs. Follow-up regression models demonstrated that HF-HRV and PEP accounted for unique variance in selective attention effects on N1 mean amplitude. These results are consistent with the neurovisceral integration model, such that greater parasympathetic activity is a marker of increased selective attention, as well as other theoretical models that emphasize the role of heightened sympathetic activity in more efficient attention-related processing. The present findings highlight the importance of autonomic physiology in the study of individual differences in neurocognitive function and, given the foundational role of selective attention across cognitive domains, suggest that both parasympathetic and sympathetic activity may be key to understanding variability in brain function across a variety of cognitive tasks.
多个理论框架假设，自主神经系统与高级神经网络之间的相互作用对于认知和情绪调节至关重要。然而，很少有研究直接检查自主生理测量与认知任务期间大脑活动之间的关系，当这样做时，更少的研究同时检查副交感和交感自主分支。在这里，93 名成年人同时完成了 ERP 听觉选择性注意任务和副交感活动（高频心率变异性；HF-HRV）和交感活动（预射前间期；PEP）的测量。我们专注于研究充分的 N1 ERP 成分，以测试其与 HF-HRV 和 PEP 的基线值的关联。静息时 HF-HRV 较高和静息时 PEP 较短的个体在其 ERP 上对选择性注意的影响更大。后续回归模型表明，HF-HRV 和 PEP 解释了选择性注意对 N1 平均振幅影响的独特差异。这些结果与神经内脏整合模型一致，即副交感活动增加是选择性注意力增强的标志，以及强调交感活动在更有效的注意力相关处理中作用的其他理论模型。这些发现强调了自主生理在神经认知功能个体差异研究中的重要性，并且鉴于选择性注意在认知领域中的基础作用，表明副交感和交感活动可能是理解各种认知任务中大脑功能变异性的关键。
