The effects of dyspnea on executive functioning and memory - Response inhibition, error processing and recognition memory

Dyspnea or breathlessness is the subjective feeling of breathing discomfort that negatively affects daily life in various disease conditions. It is a prevalent and debilitating symptom causing a high burden for many patients. However, little is known about the effects of dyspnea on executive functioning and memory. It is well established that pain, a similarly aversive bodily symptom, impairs multiple dimensions of executive functioning and memory. Furthermore, the magnitude of this impairing effect is mediated by individual levels of pain catastrophizing with high levels of pain catastrophizing being related to more impairment. Pain catastrophizing itself is considered an immoderate negative cognitive orientation towards harmful stimuli or experiences, resulting in rumination of those events, amplification of their magnitude and helplessness. Dyspnea catastrophizing, a presumably similarly impairing trait-like characteristic as pain catastrophizing, has recently received increasing scientific interest in respiratory research. However, the effect of dyspnea catastrophizing on executive functions and memory has not been established yet. In the present project, dyspnea will be induced in healthy subjects to investigate its effect on different aspects of executive functioning and memory. Additionally, we will determine whether dyspnea catastrophizing has similarly impairing effects than pain catastrophizing. Outcome measures will include task performance, self-reports, personality measures and psychophysiological responses including electroencephalography in order to study related neural processes.