Perceptual cues used to reproduce an inspired lung volume

The perceptual cues used to reproduce a specific lung volume were studied in five healthy males. Performance was examined under three conditions that were designed progressively to remove the reliability of cues that a subject might use to duplicate a specific lung volume. As judged by the mean errors (disregarding the sign of the error) and constant errors (including the sign of the error), there were no significant differences in the accuracy with which subjects reproduced a standard volume, even when they were required to perform the reproductions at various inspiratory rates and starting volumes. The best performance was in the final experimental session in which the mean error for the group, all conditions combined, was 133 ml. There was a difference between conditions on the just-noticeable differences (a measure of variability including the sign of the error); subject performance was significantly more variable when the inspiratory flow rate was altered. The group mean error for the final session for just-noticeable differences was 93.3 ml. Our results indicate that a specific lung volume can be achieved using cues other than those associated with the movement made to attain that lung volume. The specific afferents that provided these cues are not known, but we propose that they uniquely signal static position.