FIGURE 1 a) Schematic presentation of the study design for one exemplary participant. #: measurements of respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREPs) elicited by paired occlusions (on average 28.76 paired occlusions were analysed per condition). The conditions of very mild, mild and moderate dyspnoea were presented in counterbalanced order across participants. b) Mean±sd ratings of dyspnoea intensity and unpleasantness for conditions of no dyspnoea (baseline), very mild dyspnoea (5 cmH2O·L−1·s−1), mild dyspnoea (10 cmH2O·L−1·s−1) and moderate dyspnoea (15 cmH2O·L−1·s−1). c) Group mean respiratory-related evoked potential (µV) for the first (S1) and second occlusion (S2) for conditions of no dyspnoea, very mild dyspnoea, mild dyspnoea and moderate dyspnoea. RREPs were obtained by applying filters (high-pass 0.1 Hz, low-pass 30 Hz, notch 50 Hz), artefact corrections and an average-re-referencing procedure to the data. This was followed by the extraction (200 ms pre- to 1000 ms post-occlusion onset) and averaging of the occlusion-related electroencephalogram epochs for S1 and S2 separately. d) Averaged N1 peak amplitudes (µV) for the first occlusion (S1), second occlusion (S2) and neural gating of respiratory sensations (N1 difference scores S2−S1) for conditions of no dyspnoea, very mild dyspnoea, mild dyspnoea and moderate dyspnoea. e) Correlations between trait anxiety and changes in ratings of dyspnoea intensity, dyspnoea unpleasantness and neural gating of respiratory sensations from baseline to the moderate dyspnoea condition. Trait anxiety was measured with the validated Dutch version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Changes in dyspnoea intensity and unpleasantness were calculated by subtracting the ratings of the no dyspnoea condition from the moderate dyspnoea condition. Changes in neural gating were calculated by subtracting the N1 difference scores (S2−S1) of the moderate dyspnoea condition from the N1 difference scores (S2−S1) of the no dyspnoea condition. Higher values indicate a stronger increase of dyspnoea intensity, dyspnoea unpleasantness and neural gating from baseline to the moderate dyspnoea condition. The correlation demonstrates that increased trait anxiety is related to increased ratings of dyspnoea intensity and unpleasantness as well as to decreased neural gating. *: p≤0.05; ***: p<0.001. ¶: significant positive linear trend; +: significant negative linear trend.