Gender moderates the association between resting vagally mediated heart rate variability and attentional control

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Psychiatry

Yanwen Ding¹  Yueyi Sun¹  Siyu Wang¹  Xiaocong Zhang² 

[1]Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Holistic Integrated Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

[2]null

关键词: attentional control;    heart rate variability;    gender differences;    vagal tone;    moderating effects;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1165467

 received in 2023-02-14, accepted in 2023-07-12,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWomen typically exhibit weaker attentional control ability than men. Lower resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is thought to reflect the poorer function of the neurophysiological pathways underlying attentional control and thus, poorer attentional control ability. However, existing findings are inconsistent regarding the relationship between vmHRV and attentional control. Gender may be an important moderator.ObjectiveTo examine whether gender moderates the relationship between resting vmHRV and attentional control, and to provide neurophysiological evidence for elucidating gender differences in attentional control ability.MethodsTwo hundred and twenty college students completed the Attentional Control Scale to evaluate their attentional control ability. Resting vmHRV was assessed during a 5 min baseline period using an electrocardiographic amplifier (ECG100C) of the Biopac MP150 physiological recorder.Results(1) There was no significant difference in the total scores of the Attentional Control Scale between men and women (t = 0.498, p > 0.05), but the scores of the attentional shifting dimension of women were significantly lower than those of men (t = 1.995, p < 0.05); (2) Resting vmHRV was significantly negatively correlated with attentional control in women(r = −0.233, p < 0.01), whereas the correlation was not significant in men; (3) Gender significantly moderated the relationship between resting vmHRV and attentional control (B = −3.088, 95% boot CI [−5.431, −0.745], t = −2.598, p < 0.05); (4) Among participants with lower resting vmHRV, there was no significant difference in attentional control between men and women (B = 2.284, 95% boot CI [−0.748, 5.310], p > 0.05), but among participants with higher resting vmHRV, men scored significantly higher than women in attentional control (B = −3.377, 95% boot CI [−6.406, −0.348], p < 0.05).ConclusionGender moderates the relationship between resting vmHRV and attentional control, with higher resting vmHRV in women reflecting a compensatory response to deficits in attentional control.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Zhang, Wang, Sun and Ding.