Journal
COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 18, Issue 4, Pages 730-738Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-0600-x
Keywords
Cognitive control; Heart rate variability; RMSSD; HF; Task-switching paradigm; Cognitive flexibility; Cardiac vagal tone
Categories
Funding
- Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) [452-12-001]
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The neurovisceral integration model proposes that heart rate variability (HRV) is linked to prefrontal cortex activity via the vagus nerve, which connects the heart and the brain. HRV, an index of cardiac vagal tone, has been found to predict performance on several cognitive control tasks that rely on the prefrontal cortex. However, the link between HRV and the core cognitive control function shifting between tasks and mental sets is under-investigated. Therefore, the present study tested the neurovisceral integration model by examining, in 90 participants, the relationship between vagally mediated resting-state HRV and performance in a task-switching paradigm that provides a relatively process-pure measure of cognitive flexibility. As predicted, participants with higher resting-state HRV (indexed both by time domain and frequency domain measures) showed smaller switch costs (i.e., greater flexibility) than individuals with lower resting-state HRV. Our findings support the neurovisceral integration model and indicate that higher levels of vagally mediated resting-state HRV promote cognitive flexibility.
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