I think that the stimulator HR and RR settings being the same was what Meelika's professor was hinting at, Dave. As well as them being outside of normal values, hopefully.
Meanwhile, shallow breathing (in real patients, but not a simulator) can confuse a (impedance pneumography) signal - in that cardiac signals can get counted as respiration cycles. And as we know, RR displays can also easily be disturbed - even more than ECG signals - by patients moving about!
Were you thinking of
pulsus paradoxus?
Here's a (hopefully useful)
thesis* for students of this interesting topic! Also
this one.
*
A bit old; but never mind.
