title: Emotions and neural processing of respiratory sensations investigated with respiratory-related evoked potentials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease frequently experience respiratory sensations, which are often perceived as unpleasant or threatening. However, the accurate perception of respiratory sensations is important for the management and treatment of these diseases. Emotions can substantially influence the perception of respiratory sensations and might affect the course of respiratory diseases, but the underlying neural mechanisms are poorly understood. The respiratory-related evoked potential (RREP) recorded from the electroencephalogram is a noninvasive technique that allowed first studies to examine the impact of emotions on the neural processing of respiratory sensations.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this review, we will briefly introduce the importance of the perception of respiratory sensations and the influence of emotions on respiratory perception. We then provide an overview on the technique of RREP and present a systematic review on recent findings using this technique in the context of emotions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evidence currently available from studies in healthy individuals suggests that short-lasting emotional states and anxiety affect the later RREP components (N1, P2, P3) related to higher-order neural processing of respiratory sensations, but not the earlier RREP components (Nf, P1) related to first-order sensory processing. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for future research that needs to focus on respiratory patient groups and the associated clinical outcomes.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. andreas.vonleupoldt@uni-hamburg.de
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: von Leupoldt
authors: Pei-Ying S
authors: PY
authors: Chan
authors: Roland W
authors: RW
authors: Esser
authors: Paul W
authors: PW
authors: Davenport
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D012120:Respiration Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics / Q000502:physiology*; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*