Differences in beginner and expert neurointerventionalists” heart rate variability during simulated neuroangiographies

Abstract

Background Likewise work experience, heart rate variability (HRV) has repeatedly been correlated with improved performance under real life and simulator conditions. Using HRV as a correlate of workload, it is meaningful to assess the impact of work experience. To understand the impact of work experience on HRV metrics, we examined differences in HRV among experts and beginners during simulated endovascular neuroradiological procedures. Methods Six inexperienced radiologists (beginners) and five experts in neurological endovascular intervention each performed 10 diagnostic angiographies on a Vascular Interventional System Trainer (VIST) simulator (Mentice AB, SW). Beyond total time, fluoroscopy time, and amount of contrast medium used, heart rate variability and the NASA-task load index were gathered as correlates of workload. The t-Test for independent samples as well as Mann-Whitney-U tests were applied for group-wise comparison between beginners and experts. Multivariate regression was used to assess the influence of age and expert status. Results Ten participants completed all scenarios; one participant only completed the first five scenarios. Accordingly, 105 simulations were analyzed (beginners N = 60; experts N = 45, respectively). The heart rate variability of experts and beginners significantly differed in three time domain HRV metrics (decreased RMSSD, NN50, pNN50 in experts; all p < 0.05) as well as with respect to its distribution in the frequency spectrum (LF/HF ratio; p < 0.001, increased high frequency components in experts). Conclusions The HRV of beginners and expert neurointerventionalists significantly differed during simulated endovascular neuroradiological procedures. Experts presented decreased HRV, this could be a cardiovascular surrogate to the effort the subjects expend on their performance. It is in line with previous studies on vagal influences on the heart and cognitive-executive performance.

Heart Rate Variability during Online Video Game Playing in Habitual Gamers: Effects of Internet Addiction Scale, Ranking Score and Gaming Performance

“…It is known that increases in immersion (i.e., flow), cognitive demand and "adrenaline-rush" experience during video game playing give rise to the so-called "flow" state, which is characterized by parasympathetic withdrawal-associated arousal and a decrease in HF [85][86][87][88]. Consistent with our observation, previous studies have demonstrated that expert neurointerventionalists have lower HF than non-experts when performing simulated neuroangiographies with the same workload [89], and familiarized chess players have lower HF than unfamiliarized chess players when playing chess in a strange computer environment [30]. It should be noted that there are a number of reports in the literature showing that experts tend to have higher HF than non-experts at rest [90,91] and the individuals having a higher HF at rest often display superior performance in cognitive tasks, such as N-back task and Stroop task [92,93].…”

Heart Rate Variability during Online Video Game Playing in Habitual Gamers: Effects of Internet Addition Scale, Ranking Score and Gaming Performance

“…It is known that increases of immersion (i.e., ow), cognitive demand and "adrenaline-rush" experience during video game playing give rise to the so-called " ow" state, which is characterized by parasympathetic withdrawalassociated arousal and decrease in HF [90][91][92][93]. Consistent with our observation, previous studies have demonstrated that expert neurointerventionalists have lower HF than non-experts when performing simulated neuroangiographies with the same workload [94], and familiarized chess players have lower HF than unfamiliarized chess players when playing chess in a strange computer environment [33]. It should be noted that there are a number of reports in the literature showing that experts tend to have higher HF than non-experts at rest [95,96] and the individuals having a higher HF at rest often display superior performance in cognitive tasks, such as N-back task and Stroop task [97,98].…”

In-game Heart Rate Variability in Habitual University Student League of Legends Players: Correlations with In-game Performance, Game Rank and Internet Addiction Scale

“…For example, familiarized chess players had lower HF than unfamiliarized chess players when playing chess in a computer environment, as opposed to on a real board (Fuentes-Garcia et al, 2019a). Expert neurointerventionalists had lower HF and RMSSD, and performed signi cantly better than beginners during simulated neuroangiographies (Hinzmann et al, 2022).…”