Berther, T. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2025

Respiration as a dynamic modulator of sensory sampling

Respiration dynamically modulates sensory perception by orchestrating transient states of the brain and the body. Using simultaneous recordings of high-density magneto-encephalography (MEG), respiration, and pupillometry, we show that human perceptual sensitivity to near-threshold visual stimuli was enhanced during inspiration, coinciding with respiration-modulated increases in arousal neuromodulation and cortical excitability. Participants adapted their breathing patterns to align with predictable stimulus onset, and this adaptive respiratory control correlated with improved performance. We further reveal that respiration-modulated changes in alpha and beta oscillations reflect distinct shifts in sensory and motor excitability, respectively. Crucially, respiration-resolved multivariate Granger causality analyses demonstrate that the breathing rhythm systematically shapes directed information flow within a widespread interoceptive network. This respiration-brain coupling was flexibly adjusted based on stimulus predictability, highlighting a novel mechanism for active sensing which integrates internal bodily rhythms with external sensory demands to optimize perception.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Respiratory coordination of excitability states across the human wake-sleep cycle

While the respiratory rhythm is increasingly recognized as a key modulator of oscillatory brain activity across the wake-sleep cycle in humans, very little is known about its influence on aperiodic brain activity during sleep. This broadband activity indicates spontaneous fluctuations in excitation-inhibition (E:I) balance across vigilance states and has recently been shown to systematically covary across the respiratory cycle during waking resting state. We used simultaneous EEG and respiratory recordings over a full night of sleep collected from N = 23 healthy participants to unravel the nested dynamics of respiration phase-locked excitability states across the wake-sleep cycle. We demonstrate a prominent phase shift in the coupling of aperiodic brain activity to respiratory rhythms as participants were transitioning from wakefulness to sleep. Moreover, respiration-brain coupling became more consistent both across and within participants, as interindividual as well as intraindividual variability systematically lessened from wakefulness and the transition to sleep towards deeper sleep stages. Our results suggest that respiration phase-locked changes in E:I balance conceivably add to sleep stage-specific neural signatures of REM and NREM sleep, highlighting the complexity of brain-body coupling during sleep.

neuroscience↗