Neural correlates of anticipatory cardiac deceleration and its association with the speed of perceptual decision-making, in young and older adults

Publication date: Available online 5 June 2019Source: NeuroImageAuthor(s): Maria J. Ribeiro, Miguel Castelo-BrancoAbstractWarning stimuli in sensorimotor tasks induce a state of preparedness characterized by increased alertness, focused attention and immobility. This state of attentive anticipation is associated with heart rate deceleration. Ageing affects the amplitude of the anticipatory cardiac deceleration responses; yet, the impact of this physiological change on cognitive performance is still to be elucidated. In fact, how cardiac deceleration relates to brain function and cognitive performance in the context of perceptual decision-making and different levels of decision complexity remains unknown. Here, we aimed to investigate the relationship between cardiac deceleration, brain function, and performance in perceptual decision tasks and how these associate with age-related changes. We measured simultaneously the electrocardiogram, the pupilogram, and the electroencephalogram in 36 young and 39 older adults, while they were engaged in two auditory cued reaction time tasks: a detection task and a go/no-go task requiring inhibitory control. We observed robust cardiac deceleration responses that increased with increasing task complexity. Notably, stronger modulation of the cardiac response across tasks was associated with the ability to maintain response speed as decision complexity increased suggesting a link between cardiac deceleration and facilitation of perceptual dec...

Source: NeuroImage - June 5, 2019 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research