Biomaterial Database

Attention and cardiac activity: heart rate responses during a variable foreperiod, disjunctive reaction time task. 1977

M G Coles, and C C Duncan-Johnson

A variable foreperiod disjunctive reaction time task was used to evaluate the effects of stimulus discriminability on cardiac activity. In two sessions, 20 male undergraduates received easy or difficult auditory discrimination trials in blocked and random series. In the random session only, when the warning stimulus provided information about the difficulty of the subsequent discrimination, difficult trials were associated with greater foreperiod deceleration. Cardiac accelerations also tended to be greater in the foreperiods of difficult trials. There was an effect of both warning and imperative stimuli on the heart rate of the cycle in which the stimuli occurred which depended on the difficulty of the trial. The results are discussed in terms of the psychological significance of the different heart rate responses.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D011930	Reaction Time	The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed.	Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D004192	Discrimination, Psychological	Differential response to different stimuli.	Discrimination, Psychology,Psychological Discrimination
D006339	Heart Rate	The number of times the HEART VENTRICLES contract per unit of time, usually per minute.	Cardiac Rate,Chronotropism, Cardiac,Heart Rate Control,Heartbeat,Pulse Rate,Cardiac Chronotropy,Cardiac Chronotropism,Cardiac Rates,Chronotropy, Cardiac,Control, Heart Rate,Heart Rates,Heartbeats,Pulse Rates,Rate Control, Heart,Rate, Cardiac,Rate, Heart,Rate, Pulse
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001288	Attention	Focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of others. It is the act of heeding or taking notice or concentrating.	Focus of Attention,Selective Attention,Social Attention,Attention Focus,Attention, Selective,Attention, Social,Selective Attentions
D013647	Task Performance and Analysis	The detailed examination of observable activity or behavior associated with the execution or completion of a required function or unit of work.	Critical Incident Technique,Critical Incident Technic,Task Performance,Task Performance, Analysis,Critical Incident Technics,Critical Incident Techniques,Incident Technic, Critical,Incident Technics, Critical,Incident Technique, Critical,Incident Techniques, Critical,Performance, Analysis Task,Performance, Task,Performances, Analysis Task,Performances, Task,Task Performances,Task Performances, Analysis,Technic, Critical Incident,Technics, Critical Incident,Technique, Critical Incident,Techniques, Critical Incident