Mechanisms of the breathing contribution to bodily self‐consciousness in healthy humans: Lessons from machine‐assisted breathing?
Psychophysiology March 12, 2020 S. Betka, Elisa Canzoneri, D. Adler et al.
Synchronous visual feedback that matches a person's breathing—such as a flashing outline around a virtual body whose intensity changes with each breath—can alter bodily self-consciousness, making people feel more located in and in control of the virtual body. In 17 healthy participants, this effect occurred whether they actively initiated machine-delivered breaths or the machine set the timing, showing that the sense of owning a virtual body does not depend on the brain's motor commands to breathe. Asynchronous visual feedback reduced the sense of being located in the virtual body and increased variability in tidal volume, which may lessen breathing discomfort. These findings could inform virtual-reality tools for respiratory therapy.