Autonomic correlates of individual differences in human intellectual activity

The individual differences in the autonomic support of intellectual activity, including simple and complex sensorimotor reactions, memorization and reproduction (on the screen of the monitor) of visual information, were studied. The rate of performing intellectual computer-aided tests is a relatively steady individual characteristic revealed in different kinds of activity. Students who reached a high speed and accurately performed intellectual visuomotor tasks were characterized by a high lability of autonomic indices, which manifests itself in a change in the absolute values and relationship of heart and respiration rates in accordance with activity stages. These changes were specific for each form of activity and were connected with the results of the tests. Under the initial conditions, these students were characterized by high values of TP and the power of the LF and HF ranges of heart rate variability at a LF/HF ratio close to unity.