title: Autonomic regulation and maze-learning performance in older and younger adults.
abstract: There is growing evidence that centrally modulated autonomic regulation can influence performance on complex cognitive tasks but the specificity of these influences and the effects of age-related decline in these systems have not been determined. We recorded pre-task levels of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; an index of phasic vagal cardiac control) and rate pressure produce (RPP; an index of cardiac workload) to determine their relationship to performance on a cumulative maze learning task. Maze performance has been shown to reflect executive error monitoring capacity and non-executive visuo-motor processing speed. Error monitoring was predicted by RSA in both older and younger adults but by RPP only in the older group. Non-executive processes were unrelated to either measure. These data suggest that vagal regulation is more closely associated with executive than nonexecutive aspects of maze performance and that, in later life, pre-task levels of cardiac workload also influence executive control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mathewson
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dywan
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Tays
authors.forename: Sidney J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Segalowitz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001146:Arrhythmia, Sinus; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D056152:Respiratory Rate / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult