"BreaThink": breathing affects production and perception of quantities
Author: Francesco Belli1, Arianna Felisatti2, Martin H Fischer2
Affiliation:
1 Cognitive Sciences Division, Psychology Department, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany. belli@uni-potsdam.de.
2 Cognitive Sciences Division, Psychology Department, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
Conference/Journal: Exp Brain Res
Date published: 2021 Jun 12
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1007/s00221-021-06147-z. , Word Count: 110
Cognition is shaped by signals from outside and within the body. Following recent evidence of interoceptive signals modulating higher-level cognition, we examined whether breathing changes the production and perception of quantities. In Experiment 1, 22 adults verbally produced on average larger random numbers after inhaling than after exhaling. In Experiment 2, 24 further adults estimated the numerosity of dot patterns that were briefly shown after either inhaling or exhaling. Again, we obtained on average larger responses following inhalation than exhalation. These converging results extend models of situated cognition according to which higher-level cognition is sensitive to transient interoceptive states.
Keywords: Breathing; Embodied cognition; Interoception; Numerical cognition; Situated cognition.
PMID: 34117890 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06147-z
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