Respiratory suppression enhances voluntary control of human action

Abstract

Athletes often regulate their breathing to optimize motor performance, suggesting a close link between respiration and movement control. Previous studies have shown that respiration modulates neuronal oscillations and influences behavior. However, how respiratory control directly affects motor behavior remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that breath holding during the preparatory period facilitates voluntary movement. We examined respiratory patterns while participants performed two types of eye movement tasks: pro-saccade and anti-saccade tasks. In the anti-saccade task, participants were required to suppress a reflexive saccade toward a visual target and instead generate a voluntary saccade in the opposite direction. To assess whether motivation modulates respiratory control, the tasks were conducted under two motivational conditions. Most participants suppressed their breath during the anticipatory period preceding saccade initiation, regardless of task type, and this tendency was more pronounced under high motivation. In the anti-saccade task, stronger respiratory adjustments were associated with shorter reaction times, whereas no such relationship was observed in the pro-saccade task. Moreover, intentional breath holding during the preparatory period selectively reduced reaction times in the anti-saccade task. These findings indicate that individuals spontaneously hold their breath to facilitate voluntary actions in highly motivated situations, and that this effect can be reproduced through intentional breath holding. We propose that anticipatory breath holding may play a functional role in proactively modulating neural processes underlying voluntary movement control.