TY - JOUR
T1 - Sensitivity to mental effort and test-retest reliability of heart rate variability measures in healthy seniors
AU - Mukherjee, Shalini
AU - Yadav, Rajeev
AU - Yung, Iris
AU - Zajdel, Daniel P.
AU - Oken, Barry S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by NIH U19 AT002656 and K24 AT005121 . Roger Ellingson, M.S. provided software support for the heart rate variability data analysis and Ms. Alexandra Amen helped with arranging the references.
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Objectives: To determine (1) whether heart rate variability (HRV) was a sensitive and reliable measure in mental effort tasks carried out by healthy seniors and (2) whether non-linear approaches to HRV analysis, in addition to traditional time and frequency domain approaches were useful to study such effects. Methods: Forty healthy seniors performed two visual working memory tasks requiring different levels of mental effort, while ECG was recorded. They underwent the same tasks and recordings 2. weeks later. Traditional and 13 non-linear indices of HRV including Poincaré, entropy and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) were determined. Results: Time domain, especially mean R-R interval (RRI), frequency domain and, among non-linear parameters - Poincaré and DFA were the most reliable indices. Mean RRI, time domain and Poincaré were also the most sensitive to different mental effort task loads and had the largest effect size. Conclusions: Overall, linear measures were the most sensitive and reliable indices to mental effort. In non-linear measures, Poincaré was the most reliable and sensitive, suggesting possible usefulness as an independent marker in cognitive function tasks in healthy seniors. Significance: A large number of HRV parameters was both reliable as well as sensitive indices of mental effort, although the simple linear methods were the most sensitive.
AB - Objectives: To determine (1) whether heart rate variability (HRV) was a sensitive and reliable measure in mental effort tasks carried out by healthy seniors and (2) whether non-linear approaches to HRV analysis, in addition to traditional time and frequency domain approaches were useful to study such effects. Methods: Forty healthy seniors performed two visual working memory tasks requiring different levels of mental effort, while ECG was recorded. They underwent the same tasks and recordings 2. weeks later. Traditional and 13 non-linear indices of HRV including Poincaré, entropy and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) were determined. Results: Time domain, especially mean R-R interval (RRI), frequency domain and, among non-linear parameters - Poincaré and DFA were the most reliable indices. Mean RRI, time domain and Poincaré were also the most sensitive to different mental effort task loads and had the largest effect size. Conclusions: Overall, linear measures were the most sensitive and reliable indices to mental effort. In non-linear measures, Poincaré was the most reliable and sensitive, suggesting possible usefulness as an independent marker in cognitive function tasks in healthy seniors. Significance: A large number of HRV parameters was both reliable as well as sensitive indices of mental effort, although the simple linear methods were the most sensitive.
KW - Detrended fluctuation analysis
KW - Entropy
KW - Heart rate variability
KW - Mental effort
KW - Non-linear approaches
KW - Poincaré
KW - Working memory
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U2 - 10.1016/j.clinph.2011.02.032
DO - 10.1016/j.clinph.2011.02.032
M3 - Article
C2 - 21459665
AN - SCOPUS:80052413789
SN - 1388-2457
VL - 122
SP - 2059
EP - 2066
JO - Clinical Neurophysiology
JF - Clinical Neurophysiology
IS - 10
ER -