Neural Plasticity

Review Article

Respiratory Changes in Response to Cognitive Load: A Systematic Review

Table 3

Overview of respiratory changes in response to reviewed cognitive tasks.
 Changes from baseline to task ()Changes with increasing task difficulty ()Reactivity over time/trials ()
RR↑↑↓—
TV——(—)
MV↑(—) 
(↓)(—) 
(—)  
(↑)  
(↑—)  
(↑)  
% RCi(—)  
SR(↑—)  
Respiratory variability   
 Var (RR)(↓—)(—) 
 CV (RR)(—) (—)
 AR (RR)↓ (—)
 CV (TV)(↑) (—)
 AR (TV)(—) (—)
 CV (MV)(—) (—)
 AR (MV)(—) (—)
petCO2↓  
VO2↑(—) 
VCO2(↑)(↑) 
RER(↑↓)  
Note. ↑: increase; ↓: decrease; —: no change. A combination of two characters indicates that the corresponding effects were reported by an equal number of studies. Parentheses indicate a database of less than three studies for increase, decrease, no change, or mixed effects, respectively. RR: respiratory rate; TV: tidal volume; MV: minute ventilation; : inspiratory time; : inspiratory/expiratory ratio; TV/: mean inspiratory flow rate; : inspiratory duty cycle; : expiratory volume; % RCi: contribution of ribcage breathing to inspiratory volume; SR: sigh rate; Var: variance; CV: coefficient of variation; AR: autocorrelation; petCO2: partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide; VO2: oxygen consumption; VCO2: carbon dioxide production; RER: respiratory exchange ratio.