A1 Journal article (refereed)
Cardiac cycle and respiration phase affect responses to the conditioned stimulus in young adults trained in trace eyeblink conditioning (2022)

Waselius, T., Xu, W., Sparre, J. I., Penttonen, M., & Nokia, M. S. (2022). Cardiac cycle and respiration phase affect responses to the conditioned stimulus in young adults trained in trace eyeblink conditioning. Journal of Neurophysiology, 127(3), 767-775. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00298.2021

JYU authors or editors

Waselius, Tomi
Xu, Weiyong
Sparre, Julia
Penttonen, Markku
Nokia, Miriam

Publication details

All authors or editors: Waselius, Tomi; Xu, Weiyong; Sparre, Julia Isabella; Penttonen, Markku; Nokia, Miriam S.

Journal or series: Journal of Neurophysiology

ISSN: 0022-3077

eISSN: 1522-1598

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 09/02/2022

Volume: 127

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 767-775

Publisher: American Physiological Society

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00298.2021

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/79846

Abstract

Rhythms of breathing and heartbeat are linked to each other as well as to rhythms of the brain. Our recent studies suggest that presenting the conditioned stimulus during expiration or during the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle facilitates neural processing of that stimulus and improves learning an eyeblink classical conditioning task. To date, it has not been examined whether utilizing information from both respiration and cardiac cycle phases simultaneously allows even more efficient modulation of learning. Here we studied whether the timing of the conditioned stimulus to different cardiorespiratory rhythm phase combinations affects learning trace eyeblink conditioning in healthy young adults. The results were consistent with previous reports: Timing the conditioned stimulus to diastole during expiration was more beneficial for learning than timing it to systole during inspiration. Cardiac cycle phase seemed to explain most of this variation in learning at the behavioral level. Brain evoked potentials (N1) elicited by the conditioned stimulus and recorded using electroencephalogram were larger when the conditioned stimulus was presented to diastole during expiration than when it was presented to systole during inspiration. Breathing phase explained the variation in the N1 amplitude. To conclude, our findings suggest that non-invasive monitoring of bodily rhythms combined with closed-loop control of stimulation can be used to promote learning in humans. The next step will be to test if performance can also be improved in humans with compromised cognitive ability, such as in older people with memory impairments.

Keywords: psychophysiology; respiration; pulse; cognitive processes; conditioning (passive); learning

Free keywords: breathing; heartbeat; event-related potential; learning

Fields of science: