title: Different types of circulatory responses to mental tasks.
abstract: The present study investigated the circulatory responses to two mental tasks. Forty males and females performed a mental subtraction task and a color-word task. During each task, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were measured as cardiovascular indices for a 5-min baseline, a 5-min task period, and a 10-min recovery period. As for the results, three hemodynamic reactivity patterns were verified: Pattern C, characterized by increased cardiac output and decreased total peripheral resistance; Pattern M, characterized by a moderate increase in both cardiac output and total peripheral resistance; and Pattern V, characterized by increased total peripheral resistance and decreased cardiac output. Also, four response types were found among all subjects: Type 1: cardiovascular responses showed the cardiac pattern for both tasks; Type 2: cardiovascular responses changed between the cardiac pattern and the mixed pattern with a change of tasks; Type 3: cardiovascular responses showed the mixed pattern for both tasks; Type 4: cardiovascular responses changed between the mixed pattern and the vascular pattern with a change of tasks. The comparison between types showed that Type 3 and Type 4 had an elevation in their blood pressure by an increased total peripheral resistance. On the other hand, Type 1 and Type 2 tended to have an increased blood pressure by a rise in their cardiac output. And Type 3 and Type 4 showed higher blood pressure and higher scores on the Type A behavior pattern questionnaire. In conclusion, at least four types of circulation response to the mental tasks existed, with Type 3 and Type 4 having higher blood pressure responses and tending to have an elevated blood pressure by a rise in their total peripheral resistance.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan. xinxinliu@graduate.chiba-u.jp
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwanaga
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimomura
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Katsuura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology