Связь периодических модуляций сердечного ритма с уровнем активности сенсомоторной коры

Abstract

The relevance of this study is a product of insufficient research into the relationships between the physiological substantiation of heart rate variability parameters and bioelectric activity of the sensomotor cerebral cortex in cognitive work. Our aim was to study the association between the periodic modulations of the heart rate and the sensorimotor cortex activation during cognitive work. 42 first-year cadets of the Naval institute participated in the study (n=44). The average age of the participants was 18±0,7 years. Electroencephalography and electrocardiography were the primary techniques used in the study. The relationship between the heart rate variability and the level of sensorimotor cortex activation was evaluated simultaneously with the presentation of various psychophysiological tests – «Schulte’s test», «Clock with a turn», «Reaction to a moving object» (RMO), «Mental arithmetic» with closed eyes. These tests are used to evaluate the perception, selective attention, working memory, spatial orientation, decision making, and thinking. Negative correlations were detected between the activity of the sensorimotor cortex in the left hemisphere and the amplitudes of the heart rhythm modulations in the 0,05 (0,043-0,056) oscillations per cardio interval frequency zone while conducting the RMO-test for spatio-temporal events perception. Significant correlations were found for the 0,13 (0,126-0,136) oscillations per cardio interval frequency range while conducting the arithmetic tasks («Mental arithmetic» with closed eyes) and for the 0,44 (0,430-0,446) oscillations per cardio interval range during the spatial orientation tasks (Clock with rotation). The relationship between the modulation amplitude at the 0,3-0,45 oscillations per cardio interval frequencies and the sensorimotor cortex activity levels was consistently observed in all functional tests. The activation of the sensorimotor cortex due to cognitive activity is accompanied by the decrease in the amplitude of the heart rate periodic modulations at the 0,05 to 0,13 oscillations per cardio interval frequency range.