Assessing Children’s Autonomic Nervous System Activity During Structured Tasks: A Feasibility and Reliability Study in Ghana
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Date
2024
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Developmental Psychobiology
Abstract
The significance of physiological regulation in relation to behavioral and emotional regulation is well documented, but primarily
in economically advantaged contexts. Few studies have been conducted in low- and middle-income countries. We investigated
the feasibility and reliability of measuring autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and behavior during challenge tasks in 30
children aged 8–10 years in Ghana during two visits, 1 week apart. Completeness of ANS data ranged from 80% to 100% across
all tasks. There was low-to-moderate test–retest reliability of video mood induction (VMI) emotion ratings and balloon analog
risk task (BART) pumps (r = 0.34–0.52). VMI elicited higher targeted emotion ratings in Visit 2 than Visit 1. Respiratory sinus
arrhythmia (RSA) was higher, and pre-ejection period (PEP) was longer at Visit 2 than Visit 1 for baseline and both tasks. RSA was
higher at baseline than during the VMI anger scene at Visit 1, whereas PEP was shorter at baseline than during all VMI emotion
scenes at Visit 2. RSA was higher at baseline than during BART at both visits. In conclusion, ANS data collection within evocative
and arousing challenge tasks was feasible in Ghana, and the tasks were generally reliable and effective in eliciting target emotions
and risk-taking behavior in this sample.
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Research Article
Keywords
autonomic nervous system, balloon analog risk task (BART), Ghana