Roos Leslie E, Beauchamp Kathryn G, Giuliano Ryan, Zalewski Maureen, Kim Hyoun K, Fisher Philip A
a Department of Psychology , University of Oregon , Eugene , OR, USA.
b Oregon Social Learning Center , Eugene , OR, USA.
Stress. 2018 Jul;21(4):347-354. doi: 10.1080/10253890.2018.1458087. Epub 2018 Apr 10.
Although prior research has characterized stress system reactivity (i.e. hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, HPAA; autonomic nervous system, ANS) in children, it has yet to examine the extent to which biological reactivity predicts concurrent goal-directed behavior. Here, we employed a stressor paradigm that allowed concurrent assessment of both stress system reactivity and performance on a speeded-response task to investigate the links between biological reactivity and cognitive function under stress. We further investigated gender as a moderator given previous research suggesting that the ANS may be particularly predictive of behavior in males due to gender differences in socialization. In a sociodemographically diverse sample of young children (N = 58, M age = 5.38 yrs; 44% male), individual differences in sociodemographic covariates (age, household income), HPAA (i.e. cortisol), and ANS (i.e. respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA, indexing the parasympathetic branch; pre-ejection period, PEP, indexing the sympathetic branch) function were assessed as predictors of cognitive performance under stress. We hypothesized that higher income, older age, and greater cortisol reactivity would be associated with better performance overall, and flexible ANS responsivity (i.e. RSA withdrawal, PEP shortening) would be predictive of performance for males. Overall, females performed better than males. Two-group SEM analyses suggest that, for males, greater RSA withdrawal to the stressor was associated with better performance, while for females, older age, higher income, and greater cortisol reactivity were associated with better performance. Results highlight the relevance of stress system reactivity to cognitive performance under stress. Future research is needed to further elucidate for whom and in what situations biological reactivity predicts goal-directed behavior.
尽管先前的研究已经对儿童的应激系统反应性（即下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴，HPAA；自主神经系统，ANS）进行了特征描述，但尚未研究生物反应性在多大程度上能够预测同时发生的目标导向行为。在此，我们采用了一种应激源范式，该范式允许同时评估应激系统反应性和快速反应任务中的表现，以研究应激状态下生物反应性与认知功能之间的联系。鉴于先前的研究表明，由于社会化过程中的性别差异，ANS可能对男性的行为具有特别的预测作用，我们进一步将性别作为一个调节因素进行了研究。在一个社会人口统计学特征多样的幼儿样本（N = 58，平均年龄 = 5.38岁；44%为男性）中，评估了社会人口统计学协变量（年龄、家庭收入）、HPAA（即皮质醇）和ANS（即呼吸性窦性心律不齐，RSA，代表副交感神经分支；射血前期，PEP，代表交感神经分支）功能的个体差异，作为应激状态下认知表现的预测指标。我们假设，更高的收入、更大的年龄和更高的皮质醇反应性总体上与更好的表现相关，而灵活的ANS反应性（即RSA降低、PEP缩短）将预测男性的表现。总体而言，女性的表现优于男性。两组结构方程模型分析表明，对于男性来说，对应激源更大的RSA降低与更好的表现相关，而对于女性来说，更大的年龄、更高的收入和更高的皮质醇反应性与更好的表现相关。结果突出了应激系统反应性对应激状态下认知表现的相关性。未来需要进一步研究，以更清楚地阐明生物反应性在何种情况下以及对哪些人能够预测目标导向行为。
