title: Heart rate variability during attention phases in young infants.
abstract: Heart rate variability during visual attention was studied in infants who were tested cross-sectionally at 14, 20, or 26 weeks of age. They were presented with a recording of a Sesame Street program on a TV screen. After heart rate had decelerated below the prestimulus level and then returned to prestimulus level, a computer-generated pattern replaced the Sesame Street display. Heart rate variability changed throughout attention. The change consisted of a decrease in variability during attention and a return to prestimulus levels approximately five seconds following attention termination. The heart rate and variability responses are consistent with a model of parasympathetic vagal influence on the heart in which vagal firing is increased during sustained attention and is inhibited during attention termination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia 29208.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Casey
mesh_terms: D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000503:physiopathology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004566:Electrodes; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology