Clinical Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Neurosci Lett. 2019 Oct 15;711:134388. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2019.134388. Epub 2019 Jul 19.
Respiratory interoception may play an important role in the perception of respiratory symptoms in pulmonary diseases. As the respiratory cycle affects startle eye blink responses, startle modulation may be used to assess visceral-afferent signals from the respiratory system. To ascertain the potential impact of brainstem-relayed signals on cortical processes, we investigated whether this pre-attentive respiratory modulation of startle (RMS) effect is also reflected in the modulation of higher cognitive, evaluative processing of the startle stimulus. Twenty-nine healthy volunteers received 80 acoustic startle stimuli (100 or 105 dB(A); 50 ms), which were presented at end and mid inspiration and expiration, while performing a paced breathing task (0.25 Hz). Participants first responded to the startle probes by 'as fast as possible' button pushes and then rated the perceived intensity of the stimuli. Psychomotor response time was divided into 'reaction time' (RT; from stimulus onset to home button release; represents stimulus evaluation) and 'movement time' time (MT; from home button release to target button press). Intensity judgments were higher and RTs accelerated during mid expiration. No effect of respiratory cycle phase was found on eye blink responses and MTs. We conclude that respiratory cycle phase affects higher cognitive, attentional processing of startle stimuli.
呼吸内感受可能在肺部疾病的呼吸症状感知中起重要作用。由于呼吸周期会影响惊跳眨眼反应，惊跳调制可能用于评估来自呼吸系统的内脏传入信号。为了确定脑干中继信号对皮质过程的潜在影响，我们研究了这种预注意呼吸对惊跳（RMS）的调制（即呼吸调制的惊跳效应）是否也反映在惊跳刺激的更高认知、评价处理的调制中。29 名健康志愿者接受了 80 次声学惊跳刺激（100 或 105dB(A)；50ms），在进行等频呼吸任务（0.25Hz）时，这些刺激在吸气末、吸气中和呼气末呈现。参与者首先通过“尽快”按钮反应来响应惊跳探针，然后对刺激的感知强度进行评分。精神运动反应时间分为“反应时间”（RT；从刺激开始到主按钮释放；代表刺激评估）和“运动时间”（MT；从主按钮释放到目标按钮按压）。在吸气中期，强度判断更高，RT 加快。在眨眼反应和 MT 上，呼吸周期相位没有影响。我们得出结论，呼吸周期相位影响惊跳刺激的更高认知、注意处理。
