Central Sympathetic Nervous System Effects on Cognitive-Motor Performance.
Exp Psychol
; 67(2): 77-87, 2020 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32729404
ABSTRACT
The intriguing interplay between acute stress physiology and cognitive processes has long been noted. However, while stress-induced release of glucocorticoids has repeatedly been shown to impact brain mechanisms underlying cognition and memory, less experimental research addressed the effects of stress-induced central sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation on cognitive performance. Moreover, despite the long-standing notion that the way performance is modulated by arousal may crucially depend on task complexity, mechanistic research demonstrating a direct, causal influence of altered SNS activity is scarce. Twelve healthy men participated in a placebo-controlled, pharmacologic dose-response study involving three within-subject assessments (1-week intervals). Subjective and objective indices of SNS activity as well as reaction time (RT) in three different tasks varying in cognitive demand (simple RT, choice RT, and verbal RT in complex mental arithmetic) were assessed during modulation of central SNS tone by intravenous infusions of dexmedetomidine (alpha2-agonist), yohimbine (alpha2-antagonist), and placebo. Cognitive performance was negatively affected by alpha2-agonism in all task conditions. By contrast, administration of yohimbine improved simple RT, while diminishing complex RT, supporting the assumption of a nonlinear way of action depending on task characteristics. Our results highlight the consequences of central (noradrenergic) SNS activation for cognitive-motor performance in RT tasks of varying complexity.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Desempenho Psicomotor
/
Sistema Nervoso Simpático
/
Cognição
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Limite:
Adult
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Female
/
Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Exp Psychol
Assunto da revista:
PSICOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha