Data from: Respiration shapes response speed and accuracy with a systematic time lag

Sensory-cognitive functions are intertwined with physiological processes
such as the heartbeat or respiration. For example, we tend to align our
respiratory cycle to expected events or actions. This happens during
sports but also in computer-based tasks and systematically structures the
respiratory phase around relevant events. However, studies also show that
trial-by-trial variations in the respiratory phase shape brain activity
and the speed or accuracy of individual responses. We show that both
phenomena, the alignment of respiration to expected events and the
explanatory power of the respiratory phase on behaviour co-exist. In fact,
both the average respiratory phase of an individual relative to the
experimental trials and trial-to-trial variations in the respiratory phase
hold significant predictive power on behavioural performance, in
particular for reaction times. This co-modulation of respiration and
behaviour emerges regardless of whether an individual generally breathes
faster or slower and is strongest for the respiratory phase about two
seconds prior to the participant’s responses. The persistence of these
effects across 12 datasets with 277 participants performing
sensory-cognitive tasks confirms the robustness of these results and
suggests a profound and time-lagged influence of structured respiration on
sensory-motor responses.