Relationships between the EEG θ- and β-parameters and heart rate variability during human cognitive performance

Abstract

We studied the dynamics of spectral coherence characteristics of the EEG θ-, β₁-, and β₂-activity and the heart rate variability (HRV) in subjects performing cognitive tests. We found an association between the HRV parameters in the process of cognitive activity and the coherence of potentials in the EEG θ-, β₁-, and β₂-bands. The heart rate parameters in the baseline state and during the test performance best correlated with the levels of the right-hemispheric coherence of potentials in the θ-, β₁-, and β₂-bands of the baseline EEG (eyes closed). The higher coherence levels corresponded to lower values of the mean time of RR intervals (RRNN), coefficient of variation (CV), total power (TP), the power of the high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) components in the HRV spectrum. During the performance of the test, higher coherence values in the EEG θ-bands with the focus in the right temporal lead corresponded to higher LF/HF values reflecting the predominance of sympathetic effects on heart rate.