title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, INSERM, UMRS1158 Neurophysiologie respiratoire expérimentale et clinique, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Cécile
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Nierat
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, INSERM, UMRS1158 Neurophysiologie respiratoire expérimentale et clinique, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Suela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Demiri
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Diseases, Geneva University Hospital and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.|Research Center for Statistics, Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dupuis-Lozeron
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.|Department of Neurology, Division of Cognitive and Motor Aging, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Allali
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, INSERM, UMRS1158 Neurophysiologie respiratoire expérimentale et clinique, Paris, France.|AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière Charles Foix, Service de Pneumologie et Réanimation Médicale (Département "R3S"), F-75013, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Capucine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morélot-Panzini
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, INSERM, UMRS1158 Neurophysiologie respiratoire expérimentale et clinique, Paris, France.|AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière Charles Foix, Service de Pneumologie et Réanimation Médicale (Département "R3S"), F-75013, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Similowski
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Diseases, Geneva University Hospital and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000503:physiopathology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology; D001239:Inhalation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012119:Respiration; D012125:Respiratory Center / Q000502:physiology; D012649:Self Concept; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014836:Volition; D055815:Young Adult