A dynamic pattern analysis of coordination between breathing and rhythmic arm movements in humans

Abstract We investigated the behavioral dynamics of human breathing–wrist movement coordination in a 1:1 frequency locking task. A pronation–supination wrist movement and a short trial duration were chosen to limit both mechanical and metabolic constraints on the respiratory system. Subjects voluntarily controlled their breathing rhythm to follow the metronome. We found that pronation–expiration and pronation–inspiration patterns coexisted as the (sole) stable fixed-point attractors of the coordination system. The pronation–expiration pattern was more stable than the pronation–inspiration pattern. Depending on the oscillation frequency, this differential stability gave rise to both absolute and relative coordination. These results show that simple behavioral laws of coordination encapsulate neural coupling dynamics evidenced from experimental research in human beings and animals. They challenge the classical view that such a coupling is not present for all imposed movement frequencies. Rather, relative coordination emerges as a result of the modification of coupling strength with frequency. These results can be accommodated by the asymmetric version of the HKB model of coordination dynamics. Thus, our data suggest that the principles and models of coordination dynamics may be taken as a reference to study the coupling of the motor and physiological subsystems involved in breathing–movement coordination.