Autonomic physiological response patterns related to intelligence

We examined autonomic physiological responses induced by six different cognitive ability tasks, varying in complexity, that were selected on the basis of on Guilford's Structure of Intellect model. In a group of 52 participants, task performance was measured together with nine different autonomic response measures and respiration rate. Weighted multidimensional scaling of the physiological responses revealed three underlying dimensions characterized by parasympathetic inhibition, sympathetic activation, and increased respiration rate. During the complex tasks, physiological responses of good performers were relatively stronger modulated by parasympathetic inhibition than responses of less good performers. We hypothesize that a parasympathetically dominated autonomic control mechanism enables a more effective cardiovascular adaptation to the cerebral metabolic demands of complex cognitive tasks.