Respiratory phases modulate visuo-spatial attention: Evidence from line bisection and landmark tasks.

Abstract

This study explores the influence of respiratory phases on visuo-spatial attention during neuropsychological assessments with healthy adults. In Experiment 1, participants performed line bisection at peak inhalation vs. peak exhalation. Experiments 2 and 3 studied the landmark task, where participants determined which side of a pre-bisected line was shorter, again correlated with the respiratory phase. Experiment 1 revealed leftward bias during inhalation and rightward bias during exhalation. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed these results in the landmark task. These findings suggest that respiration-related signals modulate the allocation of visuo-spatial attention.