The cortical and subcortical circuit regulating both cognition and cardiac autonomic interactions are already well established. This circuit has mainly been analyzed from cortex to heart. Thus, the heart rate variability (HRV) is usually considered a reflection of cortical activity. In this paper, we investigate whether HRV changes affect cortical activity. Short-term local autonomic changes were induced by three breathing strategies: spontaneous (Control), normal (NB) and slow paced breathing (SB). We measured the performance in two cognition domains: executive functions and processing speed. Breathing maneuvres produced three clearly differentiated autonomic states, which preconditioned the cognitive tasks. We found that the SB significantly increased the HRV low frequency (LF) power and lowered the power spectral density (PSD) peak to 0.1[Formula: see text]Hz. Meanwhile, executive function was assessed by the working memory test, whose accuracy significantly improved after SB, with no significant changes in the response times. Processing speed was assessed by a multitasking test. Consistently, the proportion of correct answers (success rate) was the only dependent variable affected by short-term and long-term breath pacing. These findings suggest that accuracy, and not timing of these two cognitive domains would benefit from short-term SB in this study population.

中文翻译：

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呼吸节奏对任务切换和工作记忆的影响

调节认知和心脏自主神经相互作用的皮质和皮质下回路已经很好地建立起来。该电路主要从皮层到心脏进行了分析。因此，心率变异性（HRV）通常被认为是皮质活动的反映。在本文中，我们调查 HRV 变化是否会影响皮质活动。三种呼吸策略引起短期局部自主神经变化：自发（对照）、正常（NB）和慢节奏呼吸（SB）。我们测量了两个认知领域的表现：执行功能和处理速度。呼吸动作产生了三种明显不同的自主神经状态，这些状态以认知任务为前提。我们发现 SB 显着增加了 HRV 低频 (LF) 功率并将功率谱密度 (PSD) 峰值降低到 0。1[公式：见正文]Hz。同时，通过工作记忆测试评估执行功能，SB后其准确性显着提高，响应时间没有显着变化。通过多任务测试评估处理速度。始终如一地，正确答案的比例（成功率）是受短期和长期呼吸起搏影响的唯一因变量。这些发现表明，这两个认知领域的准确性，而不是时间安排将受益于本研究人群中的短期 SB。正确答案的比例（成功率）是受短期和长期呼吸起搏影响的唯一因变量。这些发现表明，这两个认知领域的准确性，而不是时间安排将受益于本研究人群中的短期 SB。正确答案的比例（成功率）是受短期和长期呼吸起搏影响的唯一因变量。这些发现表明，这两个认知领域的准确性，而不是时间安排将受益于本研究人群中的短期 SB。