Inhibitory Control and Brain-Heart Interaction: An HRV-EEG Study

Abstract

Background: Motor inhibition is a complex cognitive function regulated by specific brain regions and influenced by the activity of the Central Autonomic Network. We investigate the two-way Brain-Heart interaction during a Go/NoGo task. Spectral EEG ϑ, α powerbands, and HRV parameters (Complexity Index (CI), Low Frequency (LF) and High Frequency (HF) powers) were recorded.

Methods: Fourteen healthy volunteers were enrolled. We used a modified version of the classical Go/NoGo task, based on Rule Shift Cards, characterized by a baseline and two different tasks of different complexity. The participants were divided into subjects with Good (GP) and Poor (PP) performances.

Results: In the baseline, CI was negatively correlated with α/ϑ. In task 1, the CI was negatively correlated with the errors and α/ϑ, while the errors were positively correlated with α/ϑ. In task 2, CI was negatively correlated with the Reaction Time and positively with α, and the errors were negatively correlated with the Reaction Time and positively correlated with α/ϑ. The GP group showed, at baseline, a negative correlation between CI and α/ϑ.

Conclusions: We provide a new combined Brain-Heart model underlying inhibitory control abilities. The results are consistent with the complementary role of α and ϑ oscillations in cognitive control.

Keywords: Central Autonomic Network; EEG; HRV; entropy; inhibitory control.

Figure 1

Experimental detail: The subject comfortably sits in front of the screen at 70 cm from the monitor with the hand positioned near the spacebar of the computer keyboard. In the first task, the subject must hit the spacebar when appearing the white square and stay to rest when the red square appears (the chess pattern with squares was the distractor). During the second task, the subject must hit the spacebar if the color of the square is the same as the previous square. The first square appeared after 30 s of a black image. The stimulus duration was 500 ms, and the interval of time between the stimuli was 1500 ms.

Figure 2

(A): Errors for each subject in task 1 (white), task 2 (gray), and total errors (black). The dashed line represents the median (value = 3) of the total errors. (B): In the first line, the histograms of the number of errors during tasks 1 and 2 for the whole group. In the second line, the histograms of the number of errors during task 2 for the PP and GP groups.

Figure 3

Boxplot of the natural logarithm of low-frequency power (left) and high-frequency power (right) in resting-state (baseline) and during tasks 1 and 2. In the graph, the extremities of the box represent the first (25th percentile) and the third (75th percentile) quartile, and the whiskers represent the minimum (0th percentile) and maximum (100th percentile). The central line is the median (50th percentile), the (x) is the mean, and the (o) upper or below the whiskers are the outliers.

Figure 4

Correlation between HRV parameters (Complexity Index (CI), HF power (LnHF), LF power (LnLF)) and EEG α, ϑ, and α/ϑ ratio EEG powerbands of the whole group. Green and dashed red lines are the positive and negative correlations, respectively.

Figure 5

Scatter Plot of the correlation between HRV parameters (Complexity Index (CI), HF power (LnHF), LF power (LnLF)) and EEG α, ϑ, and α/ϑ ratio EEG powerbands of the whole group. The dashed line represents the tendency line.

Figure 6

In the first line boxplot α, ϑ, and α/ ϑ ratio powerband. In the second line, the natural logarithm of Low Frequency (LF) and High Frequency (HF) and the HRV Complexity Index (CI). In light gray, the baseline, medium gray task 1, and dark gray task 2. GP the group with Good Performance; PP the group with Poor Performance. In the graph, the extremities of the box represent the first (25th percentile) and the third (75th percentile) quartile, and the whiskers represent the minimum (0th percentile) and maximum (100th percentile). The central line is the median (50th percentile), the (x) is the mean, and the (o) upper or below the whiskers are the outliers.

Figure 7

Correlation between HRV parameters (Complexity Index (CI), HF power (LnHF), LF power (LnLF)) and EEG α, ϑ, and α/ϑ ratio EEG powerbands of the group with Good Performance (GP) and of the group with Poor Performance (PP). Green and dashed red lines are the positive and negative correlations, respectively.

Figure 8

Scatter Plot of the correlation between HRV parameters (Complexity Index (CI), HF power (LnHF), LF power (LnLF)) and EEG α, ϑ, and α/ϑ ratio EEG powerbands of the group with Good Performance (GP) and of the group with Poor Performance (PP). The dashed line represents the tendency line.