ArticleThe European respiratory journal2018
Observing dyspnoea in others elicits dyspnoea, negative affect and brain responses.
Article in The European respiratory journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Empathetic solicitude attenuates the affective and sensory dimensions of COPsychophysiology · 2025Trial
- Dyspnoea patterns in patients with advanced diseases: a functional MRI feasibility study protocol.BMJ open · 2026Observational
- Breathlessness assessment, management and impact in the intensive care unit: a rapid review and narrative synthesis.Annals of intensive care · 2024Review
- Changes in COPD-related anxiety symptoms during pulmonary rehabilitation: a prospective quantitative and qualitative study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2024Article
- The Role of Illness Perceptions in Dyspnoea-Related Fear in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Effect of listening to breathing recordings on self-reported breathlessness: a public experiment.The European respiratory journal · 2023Article
- The effect of unpredictability on the perception of breathlessness: a narrative review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2023Review
- 'Medical education online · 2022Article
- "I had the feeling that I was trapped": a bedside qualitative study of cognitive and affective attitudes toward noninvasive ventilation in patients with acute respiratory failure.Annals of intensive care · 2019Article
- Breathlessness and the brain: the role of expectation.Current opinion in supportive and palliative care · 2019Review
- Highlights from the 2018 European Respiratory Society International Congress: sleep and clinical physiology.ERJ open research · 2019Article
- Respiratory Suffering in the ICU: Time for Our Next Great Cause.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2019Article
- Physiological Validation of an Airborne Ultrasound Based Surface Motion Camera for a Contactless Characterization of Breathing Pattern in Humans.Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
- The Effects of Repeated Dyspnea Exposure on Response Inhibition.Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dyspnoea is usually caused by diagnosable cardiorespiratory mechanisms. However, frequently dyspnoea relates only weakly or not at all to cardiorespiratory functioning, suggesting that additional neuropsychosocial processes contribute to its experience. We tested whether the mere observation of dyspnoea in others constitutes such a process and would elicit dyspnoea, negative affect and increased brain responses in the observer.In three studies, series of pictures and videos were presented, which either depicted persons suffering from dyspnoea or nondyspnoeic control stimuli. Self-reports of dyspnoea and affective state were obtained in all studies. Additionally, respiratory variables and brain responses during picture viewing (late positive potentials in electroencephalograms) were measured in one study.In all studies, dyspnoea-related pictures and videos elicited mild-to-moderate dyspnoea and increased negative affect compared to control stimuli. This was paralleled by increased late positive potentials for dyspnoea-related pictures while respiratory variables did not change. Moreover, increased dyspnoea correlated modestly with higher levels of empathy in observers.The present results demonstrate that observing dyspnoea in others elicits mild-to-moderate dyspnoea, negative affect, and increased brain responses in the absence of respiratory changes. This vicarious dyspnoea has clinical relevance, as it might increase suffering in the family and medical caregivers of dyspnoeic patients.
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