Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Activity Are Associated with Individual Differences in Neural Indices of Selective Attention in Adults

Abstract

Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive 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 event-related potential (ERP) auditory selective attention task concurrently with measures of parasympathetic activity (high-frequency heart rate variability; HF-HRV) and sympathetic activity (pre-ejection period; PEP). We replicate previous findings showing effects of selective attention on mean amplitude of the N1 ERP component (Hillyard et al., 1973;Coch et al., 2005), and extend this result to show that the effects of selective attention were associated 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, which posits that greater parasympathetic activity is a marker of increased cognitive capacity, as well as other theoretical models which 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.

Acute psychological stress promotes general alertness and attentional control processes: An ERP study

“…Significant correlations between the HF‐HRV block effect and the N1 block effect were found. This is in line with previous studies in which HF‐HRV has been shown to be related to arousal level (Giuliano et al, ; ). HRV provides valuable information about the capacity of the organism to effectively function in a complex environment (Thayer et al, ).…”

“…Selective attention allows the efficient coordination of the organism for goal‐directed behavior in a changing environment with potential threat (Lavie, Hirst, De Fockert, & Viding, ; Thayer & Lane, ). Previous studies have shown that the target central area of stress (e.g., SN) and the stress‐related peripheral response are associated with selective attention processing (Giuliano et al, ; Sara & Bouret, ; Thayer & Lane, ). Therefore, selective attention processing might be influenced by stress.…”

“…HF‐HRV obtained from the ECG signal was calculated as a physiological marker of acute psychological stress. Furthermore, autonomic physiology has been shown to be related to ERP measures of selective attention (Giuliano et al, ). Therefore, in this study, ERPs were collected to investigate the effects of stress on neural correlates of selective attention.…”

Toward a social psychophysiology of vagally mediated heart rate variability: Concepts and methods in self‐regulation, emotion, and interpersonal processes

“…Recent studies support this conclusion (Allen, Jennings, Gianaros, Thayer, & Manuck, ; Jennings, Sheu, Kuan, Manuck, & Gianaros, ; Sakaki et al, ). Resting vmHRV is also associated with evoked potential indicators of selective attention (Giuliano et al, ), and brain stimulation studies support associations with prefrontal activity (Makovac, Thayer, & Ottaviani, ).…”

Automatic analysis of pre‐ejection period during sleep using impedance cardiogram

“…Pre‐ejection period (PEP) is a hemodynamic measure of myocardial contractility that is widely used by psychophysiologists as a valid index of sympathetic beta‐adrenergic influences upon the heart (Bagley & El‐Sheikh, ; Cacioppo et al, ; Gatzke‐Kopp & Ram, ; Giuliano et al, ; Schächinger, Weinbacher, Kiss, Ritz, & Langewitz, ; Sherwood, Allen, Obrist, & Langer, ).…”