| Autor: |
Savulich G; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK.; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Hezemans FH; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.; MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., van Ghesel Grothe S; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Dafflon J; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Schulten N; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Brühl AB; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Sahakian BJ; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK.; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Robbins TW; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. twr2@cam.ac.uk.; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. twr2@cam.ac.uk. |
| Abstrakt: |
Acute anxiety impacts cognitive performance. Inhalation of air enriched with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in healthy humans provides a novel experimental model of generalised anxiety, but has not previously been used to assess cognition. We used inhalation of 7.5% CO 2 to induce acute anxiety and autonomic arousal in healthy volunteers during neuropsychological tasks of cognitive flexibility, emotional processing and spatial working memory in a single-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover, within-subjects study. In Experiment 1 (n = 44), participants made significantly more extra-dimensional shift errors on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift task under CO 2 inhalation compared with 'normal' air. Participants also had slower latencies when responding to positive words and made significantly more omission errors for negative words on the CANTAB Affective Go/No-go task. In Experiment 2 (n = 28), participants made significantly more total errors and had poorer heuristic search strategy on the CANTAB Spatial Working Memory task. In both experiments, CO 2 inhalation significantly increased negative affect; state anxiety and fear; symptoms of panic; and systolic blood pressure/heart rate. Overall, CO 2 inhalation produced robust anxiogenic effects and impaired fronto-executive functions of cognitive flexibility and working memory. Effects on emotional processing suggested a mood-congruent slowing in processing speed in the absence of a negative attentional bias. State-dependent effects of anxiety on cognitive-emotional interactions in the prefrontal cortex warrant further investigation. |
