Dataset Information

When Breathing Interferes with Cognition: Experimental Inspiratory Loading Alters Timed Up-and-Go Test in Normal Humans.

ABSTRACT: Human breathing stems from automatic brainstem neural processes. It can also be operated by cortico-subcortical networks, especially when breathing becomes uncomfortable because of external or internal inspiratory loads. How the "irruption of breathing into consciousness" interacts with cognition remains unclear, but a case report in a patient with defective automatic breathing (Ondine's curse syndrome) has shown that there was a cognitive cost of breathing when the respiratory cortical networks were engaged. In a pilot study of putative breathing-cognition interactions, the present study relied on a randomized design to test the hypothesis that experimentally loaded breathing in 28 young healthy subjects would have a negative impact on cognition as tested by "timed up-and-go" test (TUG) and its imagery version (iTUG). Progressive inspiratory threshold loading resulted in slower TUG and iTUG performance. Participants consistently imagined themselves faster than they actually were. However, progressive inspiratory loading slowed iTUG more than TUG, a finding that is unexpected with regard to the known effects of dual tasking on TUG and iTUG (slower TUG but stable iTUG). Insofar as the cortical networks engaged in response to inspiratory loading are also activated during complex locomotor tasks requiring cognitive inputs, we infer that competition for cortical resources may account for the breathing-cognition interference that is evidenced here.

SUBMITTER: Nierat MC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4792478 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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When Breathing Interferes with Cognition: Experimental Inspiratory Loading Alters Timed Up-and-Go Test in Normal Humans.

Nierat Marie-Cécile MC Demiri Suela S Dupuis-Lozeron Elise E Allali Gilles G Morélot-Panzini Capucine C Similowski Thomas T Adler Dan D

PloS one 20160315 3

Human breathing stems from automatic brainstem neural processes. It can also be operated by cortico-subcortical networks, especially when breathing becomes uncomfortable because of external or internal inspiratory loads. How the "irruption of breathing into consciousness" interacts with cognition remains unclear, but a case report in a patient with defective automatic breathing (Ondine's curse syndrome) has shown that there was a cognitive cost of breathing when the respiratory cortical networks ...[more]

PMID: 26978782

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Project description:RationaleThere are growing concerns over the occurrence of adverse physiologic events (PEs) occurring in pilots during operation of United States Air Force and Navy high-performance aircraft. We hypothesize that a heightened inspiratory work of breathing experienced by jet pilots by virtue of the on-board life support system may constitute a "distraction stimulus" consequent to an increased sensation of respiratory muscle effort. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine whether increasing inspiratory muscle effort adversely impacts on attentional performance.MethodsTwelve, healthy participants (age: 29 ± 6 years) were recruited for this study. Participants completed six repetitions of a modified Masked Conjunctive Continuous Performance Task (MCCPT) protocol while breathing against four different inspiratory threshold loads to assess median reaction times (RTs). A computer-controlled threshold loading device was used to set the inspiratory threshold loads. Repeated measures analysis of variances (ANOVAs) were performed to examine: (i) the efficacy of the threshold loading device to impose significantly higher loading at each loading condition; (ii) the effects of loading condition on respiratory muscle effort sensation; and (iii) the influence of hypercapnia on MCCPT scores during inspiratory threshold loading. Generalized additive mixed effects models (GAMMs) were used to examine the potential non-linear effects of respiratory muscular effort sensation, device loading, and hypercapnia, on MCCPT scores during inspiratory threshold loading.ResultsInspiratory threshold loading significantly augmented (P < 0.05) inspiratory effort sensation and the inspiratory pressure-time product (PTP). Our analyses also revealed that median hit RT was positively associated with inspiratory effort sensation during inspiratory loading trials.ConclusionThe findings of this work suggest that it was not increasing inspiratory muscle effort (i.e., PTP) per se, but rather participant's subjective perception of inspiratory "load" that impacts negatively on attentional performance; i.e., as the degree of inspiratory effort sensation increased, sotoo did median hit RT. As such, it is reasonable to suggest that minimizing inspiratory effort sensation (independent of the mechanical output of the inspiratory muscles) during high-performance flight operations may prove useful in reducing pilot RTs during complex behavioral tasks.

Dataset Information

When Breathing Interferes with Cognition: Experimental Inspiratory Loading Alters Timed Up-and-Go Test in Normal Humans.

Publications

When Breathing Interferes with Cognition: Experimental Inspiratory Loading Alters Timed Up-and-Go Test in Normal Humans.

Similar Datasets

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