Monitoring Cognitive and Emotional Processes Through Pupil and Cardiac Response During Dynamic Versus Logical Task

The paper deals with the links between physiological measurements and cognitive and emotional functioning. As long as the operator is a key agent in charge of complex systems, the definition of metrics able to predict his performance is a great challenge. The measurement of the physiological state is a very promising way but a very acute comprehension is required; in particular few studies compare autonomous nervous system reactivity according to specific cognitive processes during task performance and task related psychological stress is often ignored. We compared physiological parameters recorded on 24 healthy subjects facing two neuropsychological tasks: a dynamic task that require problem solving in a world that continually evolves over time and a logical task representative of cognitive processes performed by operators facing everyday problem solving. Results showed that the mean pupil diameter change was higher during the dynamic task; conversely, the heart rate was more elevated during the logical task. Finally, the systolic blood pressure seemed to be strongly sensitive to psychological stress. A better taking into account of the precise influence of a given cognitive activity and both workload and related task-induced psychological stress during task performance is a promising way to better monitor operators in complex working situations to detect mental overload or pejorative stress factor of error

Long-term neurophysiologic impact of childhood sleep disordered breathing on neurocognitive performance

Study Objective. To determine the impact of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in children on neurocognitive function 5 years later.Design, Setting, and Participants. A subgroup of 43 children from the Tucson Children’s Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA) who had SDB (RDI > 6 events/hour) at their initial exam (ages 6-11 years) were matched on the basis of age (within 1 year), gender and ethnicity (Anglo/Hispanic) to 43 children without SDB (Control, RDI < 4 events/hour). The Sustained Working Memory Task (SWMT) which combines tests of working memory (1-Back Task), reaction time (Simple Reaction Time) and attention (Multiplexing Task) with concurrent electroencephalographic monitoring was administered approximately 5 years later.Results. There were no differences in performance on the working memory, reaction time and attention tests between the SDB and Control groups. However, the SDB group exhibited lower P300 evoked potential amplitudes during the Simple Reaction Time and Multiplexing Tasks. Additionally, peak alpha power during the Multiplexing Task was lower in the SDB Group with a similar trend in the Simple Reaction Time Task (p=0.08).Conclusions. SDB in children may cause subtle long-term changes in executive function that are not detectable with conventional neurocognitive testing and are only evident during neuroelectrophysiologic monitoring