[Human perception of one's own respiratory volume]. / O vospriiatii chelovekom svoego dykhatel'nogo ob'ema

In young healthy subjects, the ability of correct estimation of own respiratory volume and of rather exact reproduction of its given value, was shown. However, on artificial increase in the resistance to breathing the subjects percept the respiratory volume as a greater than actual one and, having been told to decrease the respiratory volume, reduced it to a greater than necessary extent. An opposite phenomenon was noted on reducing the resistance to respiration. Moderate hypoxia and, particularly, hypercapnia evoked involuntary exaggeration of asked respiratory volume while hyperoxia evoked its reducing. The data obtained suggest that the main source of sensations associated with a respiratory act is the afferent projection from the proprioreceptors of respiratory muscles, which reflects the value of inspiratory effort. The perception of respiratory volume may be distorted by changes of projections from chemoreceptors participating in regulation of breathing.