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Respiratory phases modulate visuo-spatial attention: Evidence from line bisection and landmark tasks
Francesco Belli1, Martin H Fischer1
1Potsdam Embodied Cognition Group, Cognitive Sciences Division, Psychology Department, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
Laterality
|April 16, 2025
Summary
Breathing influences how we pay attention to space. Inhalation biases visuo-spatial attention leftward, while exhalation biases it rightward, affecting cognitive tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuropsychology
- Human Physiology
Background:
- Visuo-spatial attention is crucial for cognitive tasks.
- Respiratory phases are fundamental physiological processes.
- The interplay between respiration and attention is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how respiratory phases (inhalation and exhalation) affect visuo-spatial attention.
- To determine if breathing patterns influence performance on neuropsychological tasks.
Main Methods:
- Healthy adults performed line bisection and landmark tasks.
- Task performance was correlated with specific respiratory phases (peak inhalation vs. peak exhalation).
Main Results:
- A leftward bias in visuo-spatial attention was observed during peak inhalation.
- A rightward bias was found during peak exhalation.
- These effects were consistent across both line bisection and landmark tasks.
Conclusions:
- Respiratory phase significantly modulates visuo-spatial attention allocation.
- Respiration-related signals are implicated in the control of attention during cognitive assessments.
