title: Breathing as a Fundamental Rhythm of Brain Function.
abstract: Ongoing fluctuations of neuronal activity have long been considered intrinsic noise that introduces unavoidable and unwanted variability into neuronal processing, which the brain eliminates by averaging across population activity (Georgopoulos et al., 1986; Lee et al., 1988; Shadlen and Newsome, 1994; Maynard et al., 1999). It is now understood, that the seemingly random fluctuations of cortical activity form highly structured patterns, including oscillations at various frequencies, that modulate evoked neuronal responses (Arieli et al., 1996; Poulet and Petersen, 2008; He, 2013) and affect sensory perception (Linkenkaer-Hansen et al., 2004; Boly et al., 2007; Sadaghiani et al., 2009; Vinnik et al., 2012; Palva et al., 2013). Ongoing cortical activity is driven by proprioceptive and interoceptive inputs. In addition, it is partially intrinsically generated in which case it may be related to mental processes (Fox and Raichle, 2007; Deco et al., 2011). Here we argue that respiration, via multiple sensory pathways, contributes a rhythmic component to the ongoing cortical activity. We suggest that this rhythmic activity modulates the temporal organization of cortical neurodynamics, thereby linking higher cortical functions to the process of breathing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Detlef H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Heck
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: McAfee
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science CenterMemphis, TN, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Neuroscience InstituteMemphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Babajani-Feremi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Neuroscience Institute Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Roozbeh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rezaie
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Neurobiology, University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Walter J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Neuroscience Institute Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Wheless
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science CenterMemphis, TN, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Neuroscience InstituteMemphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Papanicolaou
authors.affiliation: Rényi Institute of Mathematics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Miklós
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruszinkó
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Memphis Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Yury
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sokolov
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of MemphisMemphis, TN, USA; Department Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts AmherstAmherst, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kozma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010507:Periodicity; D012119:Respiration
keywords: cortical oscillations; embodied cognition; graph theory; mind-body; phase amplitude coupling; phase transitions; proprioception; respiration