We examined interactions between baseline hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity in relation to executive functions (EF) in a sample (n = 1,005) of children in low wealth, nonurban communities at age 48 months. Salivary cortisol and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) represented baseline HPA axis and PNS activity, respectively. The interaction between RSA and cortisol predicted EF such that children with either lower RSA and lower cortisol, or higher RSA and higher cortisol had higher EF scores. These findings suggest a potential compensatory relation in which the PNS and HPA axis counterbalance each other to support cognition.

中文翻译：

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基线下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴和副交感神经系统活动相互作用，以预测低收入儿童的执行功能

我们 在48个月的低收入，非城市社区儿童中（n = 1,005）研究了基线下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴与副交感神经系统（PNS）活动与执行功能（EF）之间的相互作用。 。唾液皮质醇和呼吸窦性心律不齐（RSA）分别代表基线HPA轴和PNS活性。RSA与皮质醇之间的相互作用可预测EF，从而使RSA较低，皮质醇较低或RSA较高且皮质醇较高的儿童具有较高的EF评分。这些发现暗示了一种潜在的补偿关系，其中PNS和HPA轴彼此抵消以支持认知。