Abstract
We tested whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity in response to each of three self-regulation tasks (bird and dragon; knock-tap; and gift wrap) would predict self-regulation performance in a sample of 101 preschool-age children (M age=4.49, SD=64). While controlling for baseline RSA, decreases in RSA from bird and dragon to knock-tap (but not from baseline to bird and dragon) predicted a latent variable measuring self-regulation. Furthermore, increases in RSA from the knock-tap to gift wrap-the only task involving delay of gratification-were related to concurrent task performance while controlling for the relation between RSA reactivity and the latent self-regulation variable. Results suggest that the relations between RSA reactivity and self-regulatory ability are influenced by task-specific demands and possibly by task order. Furthermore, RSA reactivity appears to relate differently to performance on motivationally salient self-regulation tasks such as delay of gratification relative to cool executive function tasks.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 596-606 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Developmental psychobiology |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1 2015 |
Keywords
- Effortful control
- Executive function
- Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)
- Self-regulation
- Vagal tone
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Behavioral Neuroscience