Profiles of vagal withdrawal to challenging interactions: Links with preschoolers' conceptual shifting ability

The current study investigated profiles of vagal withdrawal in response to a challenging task in preschoolers. Also, the association between those profiles and conceptual shifting ability was assessed. Electrocardiogram of 43 four-year-olds was registered during a sequence of games including a win phase and a lose phase, while conceptual shifting ability was assessed via a standardized test. Cluster analyses revealed three profiles of cardiac vagal response to the task. Children in the first cluster displayed significant vagal withdrawal, children in the second cluster showed nonsignificant vagal withdrawal, while children in the third group displayed vagal augmentation to the challenge. These profiles differentiated preschoolers' conceptual shifting ability. Specifically, children with vagal withdrawal had the best performance in categorization and flexibility tasks and committed fewer perseverative errors compared to children who showed blunted vagal withdrawal or vagal augmentation to the challenge. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.