Respiratory rhythms of the predictive mind

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Computational Psychiatry

Background:

• Breathing is essential for life, regulating oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.
• The brain's response to respiratory rhythms has been historically underappreciated.
• Emerging evidence shows breathing significantly impacts neural oscillations, influencing cognitive and emotional states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize current findings on respiratory brain coupling.
• To propose a novel predictive coding model for respiratory-brain interactions.
• To explore the implications for computational psychiatry and disordered interoceptive inference.

Main Methods:

• Literature synthesis of recent findings on breathing and brain activity.
• Development of a predictive coding model detailing respiratory modulation of neural gain.
• Analysis of how respiratory rhythms interact with the brain's functional connectome.

Main Results:

• Breathing rhythmically modulates neural gain at both local and global levels.
• This modulation optimizes cognitive and affective processing.
• The model elucidates the interplay between respiratory rhythms and functional brain network topology.

Conclusions:

• Respiratory rhythms exert a profound, rhythmic influence on brain function.
• The proposed predictive coding model offers a framework for understanding respiratory-brain coupling.
• Findings have significant implications for understanding and treating disorders related to respiratory and interoceptive inference.