Long-term effects of vaccination on attentional performance

Vaccine. 2004 Sep 28;22(29-30):3877-81. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2004.04.008.

Abstract

To investigate the possible influence of stimulation of the immune system on cognitive tasks, healthy volunteers were vaccinated against hepatitis B and tested over a 6 month-period in a simple reaction times and the Stroop task. In general, the "Stroop effect" demonstrates that both the name and meaning of a word are automatically processed even when voluntary attention is trying hard not to process them. Unlike placebo group, vaccinated subjects showed a persistent lack of the classical Stroop effect. These findings may be explained by a constraint satisfaction model of the Stroop task, assuming a selective weakening of the connection matrix, and suggest that immune-cognitive effects may occur, besides the well known immune-cognitive influences like those elicited by emotional stress.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention*
  • Cognition*
  • Cytokines / analysis
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Hepatitis B Antibodies / blood
  • Hepatitis B Vaccines* / administration & dosage
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Reaction Time*
  • Time Factors
  • Vaccination

Substances

  • Cytokines
  • Hepatitis B Antibodies
  • Hepatitis B Vaccines