Entrainment of respiration to repetitive finger tapping

Abstract

Subjects were instructed to synchronize finger tapping with visual signals of various frequencies. It was found that breathing rate became entrained t.o tapping rate if the latter fell within a range of two breaths per minute of the subject's previous breathing rate. Entrainment did not occur when the subject merely monitored the visual stimuli but only during performance of tapping. The effect occurred without subjects' awareness and was observed only in the absence. of deliberate adjustments in respiratory frequency on the part of the subject. Temporal restrictions on the neural events responsible for motor output appear to be responsible for the phenomenon.The brainstem respiratory centers emit a periodic output to the respiratory muscles. The frequency of this output is set by metabolic and mechanical factors, so that humans at rest maintain adequate alveolar ventilation with minimal output of muscular energy (Campbell, Agostoni, & Davis, 1970). Resting respiratory frequency can be adjusted, however, through a rather wide range with negligible change in the total work of breathing (Mead, 1960;Otis, Fenn, & Rahn, 1950), on the long term by an increase in tidal volume, and for a few successive breaths by a subthreshold change in blood O2 tension. When such changes in breathing rate are nonrandom, they have functional Significance in terms of other behaviors of the organism.The behavioral control of breathing is well known in an active organism-certain behaviors alter breathing patterns for prolonged periods of time, and in some cases the tempo of movements sets the frequency of respiratory rhythms. During playing of wind instruments or speaking, the individual must adopt a breathing pattern which permits both the performance of the task and the meeting of metabolic needs (Bouhuys, 1964; Bunn & Mead, 1971). In exercise requiring rhythmic body movements, respirations often become synchronized with the movements of other parts of the body (Asmussen, 1964;Astrand, 1970; Christensen, 1932).In an organism at rest, however, when metabolic demand is not altered, the question of whether or not other periodic motor events might entrain breathing rate to their own frequency has not previously been addressed. In this paper, we manipulate the frequency of a motor act employing small muscles not involved in respiration and monitor the frequency and timing of respiration in an otherwise resting subject.John Thomas Wilke's present address is: Western Ohio Branch Campus, Wright State University, Celina, Ohio 45822. Cecil A. Rogers' present address is : Department of Psychology, Augusta College, Augusta, Georgia 30904. METHODSFour male college-age volunteers served as subjects. Each was told that the purpose of the experiment was to determine his ability to tap at certain rhythms and that this in tum would reflect his musical and dancing aptitudes. He was also told that it would be necessary to monitor his level of relaxation and that the only equipment available was the pneumotachograph mouthpiece. A nose clip was used.Tidal...

Co-ordination of breathing with rhythmic head and eye movements and with passive turnings of the body

“…Studies on co-ordination often only consider strong coordination that is characterized by integer rate ratio (e.g., 1:1 or 2:1) and steady phase-relationship (Waurick 1973;Wilke et al 1975;Jasinskas et al 1980;Kohl et al 1981;Bramble and Carrier 1983;Siegmund et al 1999). It usually ensues from stable entrainment of a dependent Table 1 Characterization of experimental conditions.…”

“…This phenomenon has mostly been analyzed and described in locomotor activities (Bechbache and Duffin 1977;Jasinskas et al 1980;Kohl et al 1981;Bramble and Carrier 1983;Hill et al 1988;Bernasconi and Kohl 1993;van Alphen and Duffin 1994;Bonsignore et al 1998;Siegmund et al 1999), but occurs even in finger tapping (Wilke et al 1975) or eye movements (Waurick 1973). Such a ''tuning'' in temporal patterns of simultaneous motor processes is termed ''entrainment'' or ''co-ordination'' and was systematically investigated for the first time by von Holst (1939) in locomotor rhythms of fish.…”

The effect of motor–respiratory coordination on the precision of tracking movements: influence of attention, task complexity and training

“…They are often associated with a complex task requiring a high level of attention and concentration for successful performance. Hence, it is conceivable that precision of those movements can be impaired by MRC. MRC has been found during fine motor actions such as hand, finger, head or eye movements, and even during sole rhythmical sensory input (Wilke et al 1975;Haas et al 1986;Sammon and Darnall 1994;Temprado et al 2002;Rassler and Raabe 2003) indicating that MRC is not primarily dependent on mechanical relations or metabolic demands. In contrast, timing-related factors such as movement velocity, movement rate or breathing rate have a marked influence on MRC (Rassler and Kohl 1996;Ebert et al 2000;Amazeen et al 2001;Temprado et al 2002;McDermott et al 2003;O'Halloran et al 2012).…”

Coordination of Breathing with Nonrespiratory Activities

“…It is difficult to see this entrainment serving the metabolic needs of exercise, and it seems more likely that this entrainment reflects some more fundamental process for producing synergy among diverse neural events that operate within the same frequency range (292). Presumably this entrainment is made possible by extensive coupling and interactions among a wide variety of CPGs so that both feed-forward command and sensory feedback are integrated among these diverse neural events to achieve entrainment.…”

“…However, the nature of feedback and entrainment need not be exercise specific: untrained individuals entrain their respiratory frequencies to different finger-tapping frequencies as the command to tap at different frequencies is altered (292). It is difficult to see this entrainment serving the metabolic needs of exercise, and it seems more likely that this entrainment reflects some more fundamental process for producing synergy among diverse neural events that operate within the same frequency range (292).…”