Presently, adaptive systems use various cognitive and cardiovascular measures to evaluate the functional state of the operator. One marker that has been largely ignored as an assessment tool is baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). This study examined the extent to which BRS changed in response to acute psychological and physical stressors. A total of 20 participants underwent 6-min exposures to a psychological stressor and a physical stressor. Baroreceptor sensitivity, blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, stroke volume, cardiac output, mean blood pressure, total peripheral resistance, left ventricular ejection time, and pre-ejection period were continuously measured at rest and throughout the testing period. Compared to rest, BRS significantly decreased during both the psychological and physical stressors. BRS was reduced more with the psychological stressor than the physical stressor. Heart rate and systolic blood pressure significantly increased above rest during the psychological stressor but not during the physical stressor. There were no significant differences from rest or between stressors for the other physiological markers. BRS was more robustly responsive than other cardiovascular measures commonly used to assess the psychophysiological response to stress, suggesting BRS is a useful marker for evaluating operator functional state during psychological and physical tasks.
AcevedoE. O.WebbH. E.WeldyM. L.FabiankeE. C.OrndorffG. R.StarksM. A. (2006). Cardiorespiratory responses of hi fit and low fit participants to cognitive challenge during exercise. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 27, 1013–1022.
2.
AllenM. T.BoquetA. J.ShelleyK. S. (1991). Cluster analyses of cardiovascular responsivity to three laboratory stressors. Psychosomatic Medicine, 53, 272–288.
3.
AlthausM.MulderL. J.MulderG.Van RoonA. M.MinderaaR. B. (1998). Influence of respiratory activity on the cardiac response pattern to mental effort. Psychophysiology, 35, 420–430.
4.
AyazH.ShewokisP. A.BunceS.IzzetogluK.WillemsB.OnaralB. (2012). Optical brain monitoring for operator training and mental workload assessment. NeuroImage, 59, 36–47.
5.
BerntsonG. G.CacioppoJ. T.QuigleyK. S. (1991). Autonomic determinism: The modes of autonomic control, the doctrine of autonomic space, and the laws of autonomic constraint. Psychological Reviews, 98, 459–487.
6.
BoyesM. E.FrenchD. J. (2010). Neuroticism, stress, and coping in the context of an anagram-solving task. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 380–385.
ChenJ. Y. C.HaasE. C.BarnesM. J. (2007). Human performance issues and user interfacedesign for teleoperated robots. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cyber-netics, Part C: Applications and Reviews, 37(6): 1231–1245.
9.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
10.
CummingsM.BruniS.MercierS.MitchellP. J. (2007). Automation architecture for single operator, multiple UAV command and control. Security, 1(2): 1–24.
11.
DorneichM. C.WhitlowS. D.MathanS.VerversP. M.EzdormusD.AdamiA.. . . LanT. (2007). Supporting real-time cognitive state classification on mobile individual. Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 1, 240–270.
12.
DurantinG.GagnonJ.-F.TremblayS.DehaisF. (2014). Using near infrared spectroscopy and heart rate variability to detect mental overload. Behavioural Brain Research, 259, 16–23.
13.
DuschekS.MuchenthalerM.WenerN.Reyes del PasoG. A. (2009). Relationship between features of autonomic cardiovascular control and cognitive performance. Biological Psychology, 81, 110–117.
14.
FaircloughS. H.VenablesL. (2006). Prediction of subjective states from psychophysiology: A multivariate approach. Biological Psychology, 71, 100–110.
15.
FauvelJ. P.BernardN.LavilleM.DaoudS.PozetN.ZechP. (1996). Reproducibility of the cardiovascular reactivity to a computerized version of the Stroop stress test in normotensive and hypertensive participants. Clinical Autonomic Research, 6, 219–224.
16.
FeighK. M.DorneichM. C.HayesC. C. (2012). Toward a characterization of adaptive systems: A framework for researchers and system designers. Human Factors, 54, 1008–1024.
17.
GrossmanP.TaylorE. W. (2007). Toward understanding respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Relations to cardiac vagal tone, evolution and biobehavioral functions. Biological Psychology, 74, 263–285.
18.
HaarmannA.BoucseinW.SchaeferF. (2009). Combining electrodermal responses and cardiovascular measures for probing adaptive automation during simulated flight. Applied Ergonomics, 40, 1026–1040.
19.
HinesE. A.Jr.BrownO. E. (1936). The cold pressor test for measuring the reactibility of the blood pressure: Data concerning 571 normal and hypertensive participants. American Heart Journal, 11, 1–9.
20.
JönssonP.WallergårdM.ÖsterbergK.JohanssonG.KarlsonB. (2009). Cortisol and cardiovascular reactivity and habituation to a virtual version of the Trier Social Stress Test. Psychneuroendocrinology, 35, 1397–1403.
21.
LaceyJ. I.LaceyB. C. (1970). Some autonomic-central nervous system interrelationships. In BlackP. (Ed.), Physiological correlates of emotion (pp. 205–227). New York, NY: Academic Press.
22.
LeblancJ.CoteJ.JobinM.LarieA. (1979). Plasma catecholamines and cardiovascular responses to cold and cognitive activity. Journal of Applied Physiology: Respiratory, Environcognitive and Exercise Physiology, 47, 1207–1211.
23.
LevineJ. A.PavlidisI. T.MacBrideL.ZhuZ.TsiamyrtzisP. (2009). Description and clinical studies of a device for the instantaneous detection of office-place stress. WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation, 34, 359–364.
24.
LipmanR. D.GrossmanP.BridgesS. E.HammerJ. W.TaylorA. J. (2002). Mental stress response, arterial stiffness, and baroreflex sensitivity in healthy aging. Journal of Gerontology, 57, 279–284.
25.
MourotL.BouhaddiM.RegnardJ. (2009). Effects of the cold pressor test on cardiac autonomic control in normal subjects. Physiology Research, 58, 83–91.
26.
MulderB.VeldmanH.Van Der VeenF.Van RoonA.RuddelH.SchachingerH.MulderB. (1992). The effects of mental task performance and heart rate, blood pressure and its variability measures. In Di RienzoM.ManciaG.ParatiG.PedottiA.ZanchettiA. (Eds.), Blood pressure and heart rate variability (pp. 153–166). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: IOS Press.
27.
MulderG. (1979). Sinus arrhythmia and mental workload. In MorayN. (Ed.), Mental workload: Its theory and measurement (pp. 327–343). New York, NY: Plenum.
28.
MulderL. J. M.DijksterhuisC.StuiverA.De WaardD. (2009). Cardiovascular state changes during performance of a simulated ambulance dispatcher’s task: Potential use for adaptive support. Applied Ergonomics, 40, 965–977.
29.
PanJ.TompkinsW. J. (1985). A real-time qrs detection algorithm. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineerings, 32(3), 230–236.
30.
ParasuramanR. (1990). Event-related brain potentials and human factors research. In RohrbaughJ. W.ParasuramanR.JohnsonR.Jr. (Eds.), Event-related brain potentials: Basic issues and applications (pp. 279–300). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
31.
ParasuramanR.CaggianoD. (2005). Neural and genetic assays of human mental workload. In McBrideD. K.SchmorrowD. (Eds.), Quantifying human information processing (pp. 123–129). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
32.
ParatiG.Di RienzoM.ManciaG. (2000). How to measure baroreflex sensitivity: From the cardiovascular laboratory to daily life. Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 18, 7–19.
33.
PavlidisI.DowdallJ.SunN.PuriC.FeiJ.GarbeyM. (2007). Interacting with human physiology. Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 108, 150–170.
34.
PrinzelL. J.FreemanF. G.ScerboM. W.MikulkaP. J.PopeA. T. (2000). A closed loop system for examining psychophysiological measures for adaptive task allocation. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 10, 393–410.
35.
RuffH. A.NarayananS.DraperM. H. (2002). Human interaction with levels of automation and decision-aid fidelity in the supervisory control of multiple simulated. Technology, 11, 335–351.
36.
RyuK.MyungR. (2005). Evaluation of mental workload with a combined measure based on physiological indices during a dual task of tracking and mental arithmetic. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 35, 991–1099.
37.
ScerboM. W. (2006). Adaptive automation. In ParasuramanR.MoulouaM. (Eds.), Neuroergonomics: The brain at work (pp. 239–252). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
38.
ScerboM. W.FreemanF. G.MikulkaP. J.ParasuramanR.DiNoceroF.PrinzelL. J. (2001). The efficacy of psychophysiological measures for implementing adaptive technology. Hampton, VA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center.
39.
SchlegelR. E.GaillardA. W. K. (2003). Methods of assessing operator functional state. In HockeyG. R. J.GaillardA. W. K.BurovO. (Eds.), Operator functional state (pp. 303–312). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: IOS Press.
40.
SchwabeL.HaddadL.SchachingerH. (2008). HPA axis activation by a socially evaluated cold-pressor test. Psychneuroendocrinology, 33, 890–895.
41.
SherwoodA.AllenM. T.FahrenbergJ.KelseyR. M.LovalloW. R.Van DoornenL. J. P. (1990). Committee report: Methodological guidelines for impedance cardiography. Psychophysiology, 27, 1–23.
42.
SlightP.FoxP.LopezR.BrooksD. E. (1987). The effect of mental arithmetic on blood pressure variability and baroreflex sensitivity in man. Clinical Science and Molecular Medicine, 4, 381s–382s.
43.
SteptoeA.SawadaY. (1989). Assessment of baroreceptor reflex function during cognitive stress and relaxation. Psychophysiology, 26, 140–147.
44.
StermanM. B.MannC. A.KaiserD. A.SuyenobuB. Y. (1994). Multiband topographic EEG analysis of a simulated visuo-motor aviation task. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 16, 49–56.
45.
StuvierA.de WaardD.BrookhuisK. A.DijksterhuisC.Lewis-EvansB.MulderL. J. M. (2012). Short-term cardiovascular responses to changing task demands. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 85, 153–160.
46.
TakeuchiY. (2000). Change in blood volume in the brain during a simulated aircraft landing task. Journal of Occupational Health, 42, 60–65.
47.
TarvainenM. P.Ranta-AhoP. O.KarjalainenP. A. (2002). An advanced detrending with application to HRV analysis. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 49, 172–175.
48.
Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. (1996). Heart rate variability—Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation, and clinical use. Circulation, 93, 1043–1065.
49.
ThomasG. D. (2011). Neural control of the circulation. Advances in Physiology Education, 35, 28–32.
50.
TingC. H.MahfoufM.NassefA.LinkensD.PanoutsosG.NickelP.. . . HockeyR. G. (2010). Real-time adaptive automation system based on identification of operatory functional state in simulated process control operations. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 40, 251–262.
51.
TresseltM. E.MayznerM. S. (1966). Normative solution times for a sample of 134 solution words and 378 associated anagrams. Psychonomic Monograph Supplements, 1, 293–298.
52.
Van RoonA. M.MulderL. J. M.VeldmannJ. B. P.MulderG. (1995). Beat-to-beat blood-pressure measurements applied on studies on mental workload. Homeostasis, 36, 316–324.
53.
WesselingK. H.SettelsJ. J. (1985). Baromodulation explains short-term blood pressure variability. In OrlebekeJ. F.MulderG.Van DoornenL. P. J. (Eds.), The psychophysiology of cardiovascular control (pp. 69–97). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
54.
WesterhofB. E.GisolfJ.KaremakerJ. M.WesselingK. H.SecherN. H.Van LieshoutJ. J. (2006). Time course analysis of baroreflex sensitivity during postural stress. American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 291, H2864–H2874.
55.
WickensC. D.HollandsJ. G. (2000). Engineering psychology and human performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
56.
WilsonG. F.RussellC. A. (2003). Real-time assessment of mental workload using pschophysiological measures and artificial neural networks. Human Factors, 45, 635–643.
57.
WilsonG. F.RussellC. A. (2007). Performance enhancement in an uninhabited air vehicle task using psychophysiologically determined adaptive aiding. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 49, 1007–1018.
