Abstract

The cardiac correlate of attention is a deceleration in heart rate, controlled by the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. This has been extensively studied in infants; the findings indicate that this deceleration is affected by a number of factors, several mediated by the vagus nerve. However, the effects of denervation on this response are not known. Studies with adult heart transplant recipients have shown attenuated acceleration in response to stressful mental tasks. This study investigated the cardiac response to attention in infants who had received a heart transplant, using a habituation paradigm. The hypothesis that they would show a significantly attenuated deceleration in comparison to infants who had experienced no medical complications was supported, with the habituation procedure used to verify that all of the infants had attended to the visual stimulus.

LLU Discipline

Psychology

Department

Psychology

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Kiti Freier

Second Advisor

Marti Baum

Third Advisor

Paul Haerich

Fourth Advisor

Ranae Larsen

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Level

M.A.

Year Degree Awarded

2000

Date (Title Page)

9-2000

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Heart Transplantation; Heart Rate, Fetal; Heart Diseases -- in infancy and childhood

Type

Thesis

Page Count

vii; 57

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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