Stability of Behaviorally Induced Heart-Rate Changes in Children after One Week

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Abstract
Examining the stability of individual differences in behaviorally induced heart-rate reactivity in children, 34 boys having a mean age of 101.9 mo. were presented with a cognitive task to perform as rapidly and accurately as possible at each of 2 experimental sessions scheduled 1 wk apart, and recordings of heart rate were obtained during periods of rest and task performance on each occasion of testing. Task-related heart-rate reactivity across the 2 experimental sessions revealed substantial and highly reproducible individual differences, as evidenced by subsets of subjects representing clearly differentiated groups of heart-rate reactors and nonreactors, and by correlation of subjects'' mean heart-rate responses between the 1st and 2nd sessions. Individual differences in heart-rate reactivity were independent of subjects'' task performance.