Differences in cardiovascular profiles induced by mental arithmetic and by hand-eye task

Five young, healthy male students performed two different psychophysical tests each lasting 1 min. The first test (A) consisted of mental arithmetic with digiting of results on a keyboard; the second test (G) consisted of playing an electronic game based on hand-eye coordination. Before and during each test, subjects remained seated with their thoraxes connected to an impedance cardiography monitor which gave, non invasively, beat-by-beat values of heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV) and left ventricle ejection time (VET). Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) arterial blood pressures were measured by means of a sphygmomanometer and total peripheral vascular resistance (TPR) and mean systolic ejection rate (MSER) were calculated. During test A, CO (A = +30%, G = +14%), HR (A = +26%, G = +2%) and SBP (A = +16%, G = +10%) increased more than during test G, while SV (A = +3%, G = +12%) and MSER (A = +11%, G = +14%) increased less and TPR (A = -13%, G = -7%) and VET (A = -7%, G = -2%) decreased more than in G. It was concluded that the analysis of a more complete cardiovascular profile may enhance distinctions among the behavioural stressors that induced different combinations in cognitive and sensory-motor responses.