Changes in Heart Rate Variability and Performance in Subjects during Sensorimotor Activity under Different Social Conditions

The investigation of psychophysiological regulatory mechanisms of human body systems during interpersonal interactions under different social conditions of activity is a relevant aspect of neurosociobiology. Heart rate variability (HRV) indices are used to assess the psychoemotional state of a person under the influence of various social factors. The aim of this work was to analyze changes in subjects’ HRV indices and performance during sensorimotor training in different social contexts of dyadic activity. The study involved 130 men aged 19.7 years ± 3 months. The sensorimotor training “Columns” of the BOS-Kinesis hardware-software complex (Neurotech, Taganrog, Russia) was used as a model of activity. The experimental protocol included recording the subjects’ heart rate at rest (immediately before testing) and during training performance in individual, competitive, and cooperative contexts of dyadic activity. Changes in HRV indices under cooperative conditions of sensorimotor training relative to the individual stage of activity were revealed (increase in dispersion, total spectral power, and centralization index), reflecting the increased influence of suprasegmental brain structures on cardiac activity. Sensorimotor activity under cooperative conditions was accompanied by an increase in spectral power within the low-frequency ranges and a decrease in power within the high-frequency range of the HRV spectrum. Differences in HRV indices were found between groups of subjects with different levels of performance in competitive and cooperative contexts of dyadic activity. Performance levels in all joint activity contexts were negatively correlated with the heart rate and spectral power of the low-frequency range, while under cooperative conditions, were positively correlated with the spectral power of the high-frequency range, i.e. the index of parasympathetic nervous system activity. Conclusion: changes in subjects’ HRV indices during sensorimotor training depend on the social context of dyadic activity and correlate with the performance level achieved under these conditions.