Hc. Middleton et al., CLONIDINE-INDUCED CHANGES IN THE SPECTRAL DISTRIBUTION OF HEART-RATE-VARIABILITY CORRELATE WITH PERFORMANCE ON A TEST OF SUSTAINED ATTENTION, J PSYCHOPH, 8(1), 1994, pp. 1-7
Conventional measures of cardiovascular activity correlate poorly with
psychological variables and therefore provide imperfect physiological
indices of arousal. We have investigated the effects of clonidine upo
n the spectral distribution of heart rate variability and upon perform
ance on a test of sustained attention. Our findings suggest that activ
ity of he central noradrenergic system influences the distribution of
heart rate variability in the approximate to 0.1 Hz range. Furthermore
, the finding of a strong correlation between the effects of clonidine
upon each of these variables supports the use of spectral analysis of
heart rate variability in the study of arousal.