Autonomic Changes During an Adaptive Cognitive Task

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study examined between-participant associations of task-minus-baseline heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) changes with performance during the adaptive Determination Test (DT), in which performance influences subsequent task demand. Methods: This exploratory secondary analysis included 48 young adults. Accuracy was the study-defined proportion correct/(correct + incorrect + omitted), calculated from exported counts. Ten Pearson correlations formed the primary analytical family. Complementary fractional-logit and linear models included the corresponding baseline physiological value and the exported stimulus count (DT_Stimuli). Tonic skin conductance level and skin conductance response (SCR) frequency and amplitude were also examined. Benjamini–Hochberg (BH) adjustment was applied separately to the defined analytical families. Results: Mean HR increased by 19.99 bpm and mean SC by 4.65 µS. The HR–accuracy Pearson estimate was r = 0.338 (95% CI 0.060 to 0.568; p = 0.019; BH q = 0.187), compared with Spearman ρ = 0.192. In the model including baseline HR and DT_Stimuli, the average marginal association was 1.42 percentage points per 10 bpm (95% bootstrap CI 0.13 to 2.65; p = 0.033; BH q = 0.306). Neither the primary correlation family nor the 15 complementary model tests met q < 0.05. Direct comparisons did not establish different HR and SC correlations. Conclusions: HR and SC increased during adaptive DT performance. A possible HR–accuracy association depended on analytical specification. Adjustment for aggregate stimulus count did not identify the direction of the performance–demand–physiology relationship. These findings support prospective testing with time-resolved task exposure.