To explore the central nervous control mechanism of voluntary respiratory movements by detecting the cortical activation patterns under different respiratory tasks. Methods: Seven healthy males and 16 females were recruited. Two motor tasks were set up: inhale-hold (isometric contraction of expiratory muscles) and pursed-lip expiratory (isotonic contraction of expiratory muscles). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure changes in oxyhemoglobin concentration (HbO2) over time and spatial distribution differences between the two tasks. Results: During the inhale-hold task, significant activation was observed in bilateral primary motor cortex (BA4), bilateral premotor/supplementary motor area (BA6), bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA46), bilateral frontal pole and orbitofrontal regions (BA10, BA11), bilateral primary visual cortex (BA17), right primary somatosensory cortex (BA1, BA2, BA3), right inferior frontal gyrus anterior part (BA47), and left visual association cortex (BA18). In the pursed-lip expiration task, significant cortical activation was seen in bilateral frontal pole (BA10) and orbitofrontal areas (BA11). Comparing the two tasks, holding breath resulted in stronger activation than pursed-lip expiration in the right premotor area/supplementary motor area (BA6). Conclusion: Voluntary inspiratory actions followed by holding breath or pursed-lip expiration are characterized by frontally dominant sensorimotor cortical activity. There are central control differences between isometric and concentric contractions of the expiratory muscles.