title: Long-term effects of vaccination on attentional performance.
abstract: To investigate the possible influence of stimulation of the immune system on cognitive tasks, healthy volunteers were vaccinated against hepatitis B and tested over a 6 month-period in a simple reaction times and the Stroop task. In general, the "Stroop effect" demonstrates that both the name and meaning of a word are automatically processed even when voluntary attention is trying hard not to process them. Unlike placebo group, vaccinated subjects showed a persistent lack of the classical Stroop effect. These findings may be explained by a constraint satisfaction model of the Stroop task, assuming a selective weakening of the connection matrix, and suggest that immune-cognitive effects may occur, besides the well known immune-cognitive influences like those elicited by emotional stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, University of Bologna, 40122 Bologna, Italy. nicoletti@dsc.unibo.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.forename: Carlo Adolfo
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Porro
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brighetti
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monti
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pagnoni
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guido
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubichi
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franceschi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D013997:Time Factors; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines