Heart rate reactivity, habituation, and associative learning in developmentally disabled preschool children

Abstract

The relationship between adaptive behavior and cardiac indices of orienting, habituation, and associative learning were evaluated in a heterogeneous population of developmentally disabled infants and young children. Cardiac reactivity and habituation were examined through responses to simple nonsignal stimuli, and associative learning was evaluated by the cardiac response to stimulus omission in a conditioned expectancy paradigm. Results revealed a significant negative correlation between the magnitude of the deceleratory orienting response and adaptive competence, as measured by the Adaptive Behavior Scale for Infants and Early Childhood. This correlation was independent of both age and baseline heart rate. In contrast, habituation and simple associative learning were not related to the level of adaptive behavior. These findings suggest that cardiac reactivity may provide a sensitive measure for the evaluation of functional capacities of impaired populations. © 1985, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.