Abstract：
Studies have shown a significant association between effective parasympathetic modulation of the heart and processes linked to social cognition. Particularly, Quintana and colleagues documented a relation between vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) and performance on a theory of mind (ToM) task, namely, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), in a sample of university students. The purpose of the present study was to test whether such result would extend to a sample of school-aged children (7-9 years old) using the child version of the RMET. In addition, the Eyes Test Revised was administered as it is more suitable to evaluate ToM during childhood. Results supported the positive association between vmHRV and ToM abilities, replicating and extending previous results obtained in young adults. The current study adds to the existing literature pointing to HRV as a putative biomarker of social cognition abilities.
摘要：
研究表明，心脏的有效副交感神经调节与社会认知相关的过程之间存在显着关联。特别是,Quintana及其同事记录了迷走神经介导的心率变异性（vmHRV）与心理理论（ToM）任务表现之间的关系，即,在眼睛中阅读心灵测试（RMET），在大学生的样本中。本研究的目的是使用儿童版本的RMET测试此类结果是否会扩展到学龄儿童（7-9岁）的样本。此外,进行了眼睛测试修订，因为它更适合评估儿童时期的ToM。结果支持vmHRV和ToM能力之间的正相关，复制和扩展先前在年轻人中获得的结果。当前的研究增加了现有文献，指出HRV是社会认知能力的推定生物标志物。
