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Inhalation of 7.5% carbon dioxide increases alerting and orienting attention network function

Inhalation of 7.5% carbon dioxide increases alerting and orienting attention network function
Inhalation of 7.5% carbon dioxide increases alerting and orienting attention network function
Rationale: The development of experimental models that readily translate between animals and humans is required to better integrate and clarify the biological, behavioural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie normal fear and pathological anxiety. Inhalation of low concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) increases anxiety and autonomic arousal in humans, triggers related behaviours in small animals, and increases selective attention to threat in healthy humans. However the effects on broader cognitive (non-emotional) processes that characterize anxiety are not known.
Objectives: To examine the effect of 7.5% CO2 inhalation (vs. air) on the efficiency of discrete attention networks implicated in anxiety: alerting (maintaining an alert state), orienting (the selection of information from sensory input) and executive control (resolving cognitive conflict).
Methods: 23 healthy human participants completed a computerized Attention Network Test (ANT) during inhalation of 7.5% CO2 enriched and normal/medical air. Gas was administered blind to participants with inhalation order counterbalanced across participants. Measures of heart rate, blood pressure and subjective mood/anxiety were obtained at baseline and following each inhalation period.
Results: CO2 inhalation increased anxiety, autonomic arousal and the efficiency of alerting and orienting attention network function. Autonomic response to CO2 correlated with increased orienting; and CO2–induced anxiety, autonomic arousal and orienting network function increased with chronic (trait) anxiety.
Conclusions: Evidence that CO2 modulates attention mechanisms involved in the temporal detection and spatial location of salient stimuli converges with evidence that CO2 triggers fear behaviour in animals via direct innervation of a distributed neural network that facilitates environmental hypervigilance.
0033-3158
67-73
Garner, M.J.
3221c5b3-b951-4fec-b456-ec449e4ce072
Attwood, A.
32b03d9a-1026-4037-aef9-12fdbb2927be
Baldwin, D.S.
1beaa192-0ef1-4914-897a-3a49fc2ed15e
Munafo, M.R.
9f08cda8-d2ed-4e48-b7f8-7f29fa33efc9
Garner, M.J.
3221c5b3-b951-4fec-b456-ec449e4ce072
Attwood, A.
32b03d9a-1026-4037-aef9-12fdbb2927be
Baldwin, D.S.
1beaa192-0ef1-4914-897a-3a49fc2ed15e
Munafo, M.R.
9f08cda8-d2ed-4e48-b7f8-7f29fa33efc9

Garner, M.J., Attwood, A., Baldwin, D.S. and Munafo, M.R. (2012) Inhalation of 7.5% carbon dioxide increases alerting and orienting attention network function. Psychopharmacology, 223 (1), 67-73. (doi:10.1007/s00213-012-2690-4).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Rationale: The development of experimental models that readily translate between animals and humans is required to better integrate and clarify the biological, behavioural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie normal fear and pathological anxiety. Inhalation of low concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) increases anxiety and autonomic arousal in humans, triggers related behaviours in small animals, and increases selective attention to threat in healthy humans. However the effects on broader cognitive (non-emotional) processes that characterize anxiety are not known.
Objectives: To examine the effect of 7.5% CO2 inhalation (vs. air) on the efficiency of discrete attention networks implicated in anxiety: alerting (maintaining an alert state), orienting (the selection of information from sensory input) and executive control (resolving cognitive conflict).
Methods: 23 healthy human participants completed a computerized Attention Network Test (ANT) during inhalation of 7.5% CO2 enriched and normal/medical air. Gas was administered blind to participants with inhalation order counterbalanced across participants. Measures of heart rate, blood pressure and subjective mood/anxiety were obtained at baseline and following each inhalation period.
Results: CO2 inhalation increased anxiety, autonomic arousal and the efficiency of alerting and orienting attention network function. Autonomic response to CO2 correlated with increased orienting; and CO2–induced anxiety, autonomic arousal and orienting network function increased with chronic (trait) anxiety.
Conclusions: Evidence that CO2 modulates attention mechanisms involved in the temporal detection and spatial location of salient stimuli converges with evidence that CO2 triggers fear behaviour in animals via direct innervation of a distributed neural network that facilitates environmental hypervigilance.

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Published date: September 2012
Organisations: Clinical Neuroscience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 334810
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/334810
ISSN: 0033-3158
PURE UUID: 67304f11-e764-4ce4-8979-8c77f40b6f0e
ORCID for M.J. Garner: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9481-2226
ORCID for D.S. Baldwin: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3343-0907

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Date deposited: 08 Mar 2012 11:42
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:12

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Contributors

Author: M.J. Garner ORCID iD
Author: A. Attwood
Author: D.S. Baldwin ORCID iD
Author: M.R. Munafo

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