Abstract
The current study examines similarity or disparity of a frontally mediated physiological response of mental effort among multiple executive functioning tasks between children and adults. Task performance and phasic heart rate variability (HRV) were recorded in children (6 to 10 years old) and adults in an examination of age differences in executive functioning skills during periods of increased demand. Executive load levels were varied by increasing the difficulty levels of three executive functioning tasks: inhibition (IN), working memory (WM), and planning/problem solving (PL). Behavioral performance decreased in all tasks with increased executive demand in both children and adults. Adults’ phasic high frequency HRV was suppressed during the management of increased IN and WM load. Children’s phasic HRV was suppressed during the management of moderate WM load. HRV was not suppressed during either children’s or adults’ increasing load during the PL task. High frequency phasic HRV may be most sensitive to executive function tasks that have a time-response pressure, and simply requiring performance on a self-paced task requiring frontal lobe activation may not be enough to generate HRV responsitivity to increasing demand.
Highlights
Executive function is an umbrella term used to group a variety of complex cognitive functions that utilize the attentional control unit of Baddeley’s working memory (WM) model which governs allocation of attention and inhibition of automatic or incorrect action
The two tasks that required a series of discrete, timed response in relatively rapid succession – the inhibition and WM tasks – produced heart rate variability (HRV) suppression that was reactive to increased executive cognitive load
In sum, high frequency phasic HRV appears sensitive to increasing executive demand in adults and children for WM and inhibition tasks
Summary
Executive function is an umbrella term used to group a variety of complex cognitive functions that utilize the attentional control unit of Baddeley’s working memory (WM) model which governs allocation of attention and inhibition of automatic or incorrect action This Central Executive of Baddeley’s model utilizes neural connections within the frontal lobes as part of their neural circuitry (Baddeley, 1996; Banich et al, 2000; Jansma et al, 2000; Newman et al, 2003; Owen et al, 2005). A latent factor analysis of performance on a large number of executive tasks found both a unity to executive functions, as well as separate categories of executive functions (Miyake et al, 2000) For both adults and children, the separate categories included updating of WM and inhibition of automatic/over-learned responses, as well as shifting of attention and action (Miyake et al, 2000; Huizinga et al, 2006). Multistep planning toward a goal, has been found to rely on attentional control (Baddeley, 1996) and frontal lobe functioning (Luria, 1966; Shallice, 1982; Unterrainer et al, 2004a; Kaller et al, 2011)
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