Supports· strongVASO-E008
Attention regulates acute inflammation (histamine skin prick)
- what the source states
- In preregistered within-subject experiments (57 volunteers), directing attention toward the sensations of a standardized histamine skin prick produced ~1.5-fold smaller and faster-resolving wheal and flare responses than distraction, in ~90% of participants across two cohorts. Skin conductance, heart rate, skin temperature, and self-reported anxiety did not differ between conditions, while heart-rate variability was higher under internal attention; a sensory route (degraded by lidocaine) and a top-down vagal route (surviving lidocaine) both contributed.
- what we infer
- A controlled existence proof of the channel the synthesis needs: voluntary interoceptive attention, with no arousal change, measurably regulating peripheral physiology at a specific site. The measured tissue was a vascular bed — but the demonstrated route is vagal immune regulation over ~20 minutes, not seconds-scale latch release.
- limitations
- Single lab, published 2026-08-17; acute model in healthy skin; molecular mediators not directly measured (authors' own caution).
- The authors note the parasympathetic system does not innervate skin directly; nothing here concerns trigger points or smooth-muscle latches.