Keep the breath in mind: Respiratory interoception in the developing brain

• Applicant: Ezgi Kayhan Wagner, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 467015824

Breathing grounds the individual in the current sensory experience, which is the essence of a minimal self. Despite being a vital motor task that is performed on average 20000 times a day, it is surprising that little is known about how breathing interacts with neural, sensorimotor and bodily processes to shape the sense of self. A growing body of evidence in research with adults showed that neural oscillations entrain to respiration, and respiration modulates cognitive and affective functions. However, it is entirely unknown how these interactions work in the developing brain. In this project, we will investigate how respiratory interoception interacts with neural and bodily processes and how active modulation of the breath elicits short-term and long-term changes in the developing brain. With an interdisciplinary developmental approach combining cutting-edge neuroscientific methods with robotics simulations, we will provide a mechanistic explanation on how sense of self, operationalized through respiratory interoceptive sensitivity, continues to develop in early years of life.In the first work package, we will investigate children’s sensitivity to their instantaneous respiratory signals. In two experiments, we will measure the interplay between neural and respiratory dynamics at rest as well as in interoceptive attention tasks. This work package will lay the foundation for the other two work packages. In the second work package, we will focus on the behavioral, neural and computational mechanisms of active modulation of the breath. With a biofeedback game, we will test whether and how children learn to perform slow paced breathing. Using computational modeling, we will formalize the dynamic mechanism underlying active modulation of the breath in terms of short-term and long-term prediction error (PE) minimization. In the third work package, we will further investigate the role of experience with active modulation of the breath on neural and interoceptive processes. Using a training procedure, we will test the prolonged effects of repeated sensorimotor learning (i.e. slow-paced breathing) on neurorespiratory dynamics as well as on interoceptive attention.Considering the scarcity of research on the development of interoception, we expect our interdisciplinary project to generate groundbreaking insights into the role of respiratory interoception in the developing brain. We are certain that the work we started in the first period, which we aim to further develop in the second phase, will be of crucial value to the Priority Program filling an important knowledge gap in the literature.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2134: The active self
• International Connection: Austria, Italy
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Stefanie Höhl, Ph.D.; Dr. Guido Schillaci
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Birgit Elsner