Investigation of the relationship between breathing motor adaptation and agency: a physiological & VR-based study

Breathing agency usually defined as the feeling of control over respiration is proposed to be based on the integration of sensorimotor respiratory signals. Using Virtual Reality (VR), we propose a novel visuo-respiratory paradigm allowing the investigation of breathing motor adaptation (BMA) and breathing agency. Thirty-six participants were embodied in a 3-D virtual avatar, using VR (see Figure). During 15-s blocks, the avatar was breathing; either in synchrony (no-delay condition) or with an additional normalized delay (varying from 1/8 to 9/8 of their breathing cycle duration). BMA and agency ratings ("Was the movement you saw your own movement? Yes/no") over the avatar’s breathing movement were recorded and analysed using robust statistics. We found that when self-attributing the breathing movement, participants automatically adapted their breathing to the delayed visual feedback by opting for the quickest option (i.e., accelerate or decelerate their breathing to synchronise with the avatar9s breathing). Our findings are novel as they extend the existing literature on the sense of agency to new types of movements such as respiration and show a clear relationship between breathing automatic sensorimotor processes and conscious breathing agency. We strongly believe that these important findings could have crucial implications for the development of VR-based respiratory rehabilitation tools.