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Autonomic nervous system functioning in early childhood: Responses to cognitive and negatively valenced emotional challenges
Author(s) -
Zeytinoglu Selin,
Calkins Susan D.,
Leerkes Esther M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21926
Subject(s) - psychology , vagal tone , developmental psychology , autonomic nervous system , context (archaeology) , stressor , cognition , normative , responsivity , sympathetic nervous system , parasympathetic nervous system , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , audiology , heart rate , medicine , paleontology , philosophy , physics , optoelectronics , epistemology , blood pressure , biology , photodetector
Although autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning is “context‐dependent,” few studies examined children's normative sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic responses to distinct challenges in early childhood years. Examining children's ANS responsivity to distinct challenges is important for understanding normative autonomic responses toward everyday life stressors and identifying paradigms that effectively elicit a “stress response.” We examined children's ( N = 278) sympathetic (preejection period [PEP]) and parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) responses to cognitive (i.e., problem‐solving and cognitive control) and negatively valenced emotional (i.e., blocked goal and unfairness) challenges in preschool, kindergarten, and grade 1. Children, on average, demonstrated parasympathetic inhibition (RSA withdrawal) in response to all challenges but the magnitude of these responses depended on the task. Children showed sympathetic activation (PEP shortening) toward the problem‐solving task at each assessment and there was no sample‐level change in the magnitude of this response over time. Children showed greater sympathetic responsivity toward the cognitive control task over time, with evidence for a sympathetic activation response only in grade 1. Children experienced sympathetic inhibition (PEP lengthening) toward the unfairness tasks but did not experience significant sympathetic responsivity toward the blocked goal tasks. Parasympathetic responsivity to most challenges were modestly stable but there was no stability in sympathetic responsivity across time.