Daily Paced Breathing Sessions Induce Left Orbitofrontal Volume Changes Linked to Cognitive Outcomes
Greater oscillatory heart rate power during breathing training, particularly within the upper low-frequency range (0.09-0.13 Hz), predicted increases in left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volume.OFC volume increases were associated with improved attentional and executive performance, including reduced pupil reactivity to distractors and enhanced working-memory and associative-memory scores.These findings suggest that rhythmic cardiovascular-respiratory coupling supports cortical plasticity and cognitive resilience, providing a frequency-general mechanism through which breathing practices enhance neurovisceral integration in aging.
Authors
- Andy Jeesu Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1124-0213)
- Martin J. Dahl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3525-0539)
- Kaoru Nashiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8227-4712)
- Hyun Joo Yoo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-8168)
- Kalekirstos Alemu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8349-5675)
- Noah Mercer
- Hyun Joo Yoo
- Julian F. Thayer
- Hye Rynn Juliana Lee
- Christine Cho
- Paul Choi
- Mara Mather
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Lumos Labs (United States) (US)
- Prostate Cancer Research (GB)
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
- Lifespan (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- medRxiv
- Published
- 2026-03-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.02.26347452
- Primary Topic
- Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- BrightFocus Foundation
- International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology
- University College London
- International Max Planck Research School for Advanced Methods in Process and Systems Engineering
- Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung
- National Institutes of Health