Inhalation of 7.5% carbon dioxide increases alerting and orienting attention network function

摘要

The development of experimental models that readily translate between animals and humans is required to better integrate and clarify the biological, behavioural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie normal fear and pathological anxiety. Inhalation of low concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) increases anxiety and autonomic arousal in humans, triggers related behaviours in small animals, and increases selective attention to threat in healthy humans. However the effects on broader cognitive (non-emotional) processes that characterize anxiety are not known.