Heart Rate Variability as a Biomarker for Working Memory Performance and Fatigue Perception
Abstract
Fatigue is a debilitating condition especially in the emergency response (ER) domain where long work hours and sustained cognitive demands impede job performance. Typical solutions such as pharmacological aids (e.g., caffeine or other stimulants), or user-interface alterations (e.g., multimodal feedback) do not address the root of the problem. This is partly because fatigue is a complex, non-linear phenomenon influenced by lifelong subjective experiences and neurophysiological responses. Personalized and task-specific modes of intervention, beyond pharmacological aids, could improve work conditions and the outcome for all stakeholders. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a commonly used non-invasive diagnostic index of cardiac autonomous regulation. Previous studies have discovered strong links between cardiac processes and a variety of prefrontal neural responses, as well as pointing to HRV as an indicator of cognitive performance level and working memory (WM). The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a commonly used non-invasive diagnostic tool; and ECG data have been used in a variety of medical research, such as biometric human identification and sleep staging. We take data from a fatigue experiment done by our group that investigated the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) – a non-invasive brain stimulation technique on mitigating fatigue and improving individual working memory (WM) performance. The study used a repeated measure, counterbalanced Latin square design where participants were randomly grouped under control, sham or anodal conditions. Subjective responses, WM performance, and HRV data were recorded. We hypothesize that: (1) individuals with higher resting-state HRV will exhibit better performance and report lower levels of perceived fatigue; and (2) changes in HRV during tasks will be associated with concurrent, positively related changes in performance and (or) negatively related changes in fatigue perception. This study intends to unveil the relationship between HRV, WM performance, and fatigue perceptions. We will investigate the relevance of resting-state and time-on-task changes in HRV on reflecting fatigue perceptions and task performance during the WM exercise. Ultimately, we aim to provide a fieldable and unobtrusive measurement of fatigue for emergency responders using HRV that will contribute to personalized fatigue countermeasures.
Citation
Zhang, Yixin (2022). Heart Rate Variability as a Biomarker for Working Memory Performance and Fatigue Perception. Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /196533.