Breathing Strategies to Influence Perception: Evidence for Interoceptive and Exteroceptive Active Sensing

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Physiology
• Psychology

Background:

• Humans automatically modulate breathing to align with external stimuli, a process known as active sensing.
• Respiration influences interoceptive processing, but it's unclear if individuals actively adjust breathing for interoceptive tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if healthy individuals modulate respiration during interoceptive (heartbeat discrimination) and exteroceptive (tactile detection) tasks.
• To determine if breathing patterns correlate with perceptual accuracy in these tasks.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed interoceptive and exteroceptive tasks.
• Respiration was analyzed for time-locked activity and inter-trial coherence relative to stimulus onset.
• The relationship between respiratory modulation and perceptual accuracy was assessed.

Main Results:

• Participants systematically adjusted breathing amplitude and phase to synchronize with cued stimulus onset in both tasks.
• Task performance was significantly enhanced during exhalation compared to inhalation.
• Respiratory modulation was observed in both interoceptive and exteroceptive contexts.

Conclusions:

• Breathing is actively modulated to optimize perception of both internal and external stimuli.
• Enhanced performance during exhalation suggests a broader role for respiratory modulation in sensory processing.
• Findings extend the concept of active sensing to interoception, with implications for understanding perception and clinical conditions.