Key result
RSA suppression associates bidirectionally with hot executive function and predicts cool executive function in adolescents.
Why the study?
Vagal regulation and executive functions both reflect top-down self-regulation, but how they are interconnected during adolescence remained an open question.
Cohort (n=163)
In Chinese adolescents, respiratory sinus arrhythmia suppression during a stress task shows distinct prospective associations with hot (bidirectional) and cool (unidirectional) executive functions over time.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May guide future emotional regulation interventions in youth; leaves open causality, generalizability, and clinical adoption.
Vagal regulation and executive functions both reflect top‐down self‐regulation. However, how vagal regulation and executive functions are interconnected with each other during adolescence remains an open question. This study investigated bidirectional associations between vagal regulation and cool and hot executive functions in adolescents using a two‐wave data collection (T1: November 2021, T2: May 2023). At both waves, 163 Chinese adolescents ( M age = 12.92, SD age = 0.82; 47.24% females) underwent a speech task during which their baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA suppression were obtained, assessing vagal regulation, and completed a Flanker task and an Emotional Stroop task, assessing cool and hot executive functions, respectively, indexed by intra‐individual reaction time variability. Results showed that baseline RSA was not significantly associated with either cool or hot executive functions at T1 or T2. Additionally, RSA suppression to the impromptu speech task was bidirectionally associated with hot executive functions across timepoints, while unidirectionally associated with cool executive functions, with only the predicted direction from RSA suppression to cool executive functions being found. Findings revealed distinct prospective associations between vagal regulation and hot and cool EFs, providing a possibility for further investigation of longitudinal co‐development of different aspects of top‐down self‐regulation during adolescence. Summary This study is the first to explore the bidirectional associations between vagal regulation and executive functions (EFs) as two aspects of top‐down self‐regulation. No significant associations between baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and cool and hot EFs were found. RSA suppression to the impromptu speech task was bidirectionally associated with hot EFs and unidirectionally associated with cool EFs during adolescence. Findings revealed distinct prospective associations between vagal regulation and hot and cool EFs.
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Huang et al. (2026) conducted a cohort in Top-down self-regulation (vagal regulation and executive functions) (n=163). Vagal regulation (baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] and RSA suppression during an impromptu speech task) was evaluated on Cool and hot executive functions indexed by intra-individual reaction time variability on the Flanker task and Emotional Stroop task. RSA suppression in 163 adolescents (mean age 12.92) was bidirectionally associated with hot executive functions and unidirectionally predicted cool executive functions across two waves.
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