Breathing is a crucial yet surprisingly complex behaviour. Del Negro, Funk and Feldman describe the neural mechanisms underlying different phases of the breathing cycle, and how breathing affects, and is affected by, emotion, cognition and other behaviours.

Excitatory neurons in the preBötzinger Complex generate bursting activity responsible for breathing, but these alone cannot generate physiological breathing frequencies. Here the authors show how inhibition regulates refractory properties of excitatory neurons to allow dynamic breathing rhythms.