There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

This study analyzed the impact of a biofeedback intervention with athletes in sport, specifically those returning to play from a concussion. Although return to play protocols address the physical symptoms related to concussion (i.e., a mild traumatic brain injury), psychological issues related to the injury are often not addressed. Biofeedback is the use of technical equipment to assist an individual to understand physiology through immediate feedback of an action or stimulus and has been found to assist athletes with focus and concentration. In this study, a total of six athletes were recruited to complete a 12-week biofeedback (i.e., breathing) intervention. In addition to physiological markers, focus groups were also used before and after the intervention. The results point to the positive impact of the intervention, particularly the qualitative component. Participants expressed improvements related to anxiety, fear, anger, and relationships with family and friends. Limitations and future directions are discussed. / October 2016

This thesis explored the effects of subject knowledge, therapist knowledge and repeated training trials upon the subjects' ability to raise their finger temperature within a biofeedback paradigm. Significant findings indicate that only in the double blind condition did "learning of the response" occur over the four training sessions. In the other three conditions the groups showed a consistent (though non-significant) increase in their finger temperature over pre-training measures with one exception in training session three. In this trial the single blind group produced a decrease in finger temperature resulting in a significant difference between the four conditions due to the subjects' awareness of the true physiological parameter being conditioned.

Previous research by Quails and Sheehan (1979, 1981b, 1981c) has found an interaction effect between absorptive capacity and relaxation in frontalis EMG biofeedback and no-feedback (instructions only) conditions. High absorption subjects were able to relax more completely under biofeedback conditions while low absorption subjects relaxed more ably under no-feedback conditions. They theorized that this outcome was the product of the attentional demand characteristics of these conditions. That is, attention demanding conditions were believed to interfer with the imaginal thinking of high absorption subjects, thereby disrupting relaxation. Low absorption subjects, however, were believed to utilized attentional demand to compensate for their limited attention deployment capabilities. In contrast, in reinterpreting these findings, Tellegen (1981) maintained that the mechanism underlying these results was not attentional demand, but was mental set (experiential or instrumental set). Both Qualls and Sheehan and Tellegen, nevertheless, agreed that biofeedback does not play an informational role.This study examined the relative contributions of attentional demand, mental set, and the feedback of muscle activity to the relaxation of high absorption subjects. Thirty-one male and female college students were distributed into three conditions: frontalis EMG biofeedback with instrumental set, metronome with experiential set, and nosignal (instructions only) with experiential set. All subjects were given six sessions of relaxation.Results showed no between condition differences in EMG output or imagery production either within or across sessions. The primary significant finding was a within sessions EMG reduction which occurred for all groups. It was concluded that attentional demand, mental set and the physiological information supplied by biofeedback play a limited role in the relaxation of high absorption subjects. The findings relative to the informational role of biofeedback were qualified by the possible operation of a floor effect, since normal subjects were used. Further, the findings relating to attentional demand, when' interpreted in light of Qualls and Sheehan's results, suggested that attentional demand may only be important in the relaxation of high absorption subjects when highly interfering. This followed from the assumption that the attentional demands used in the present study may not have been as interfering as those utilized by Qualls and Sheehan.

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University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2006. Program in Neuroscience and Behavior. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-77).

The purpose of this study was to determine if right-side dominant college students who received thermal biofeedback from the dominant side of the body would learn the voluntary control of hard temperature faster than those who received feecback from the non-dominant side.The sample consisted of 60 volunteers from a large university in the 'Midwest. The subjects were randomly assigned to two treatment groups with 30 subjects in each group. In all, 38 females and 22 males completed the experiment. The subjects were not taking medication, nor did they have any past history of psychological treatment or any experience with biofeedback training.Treatments had previously been randomly assigned to groups prior to the assignment of subjects. Group one received feedback from the index finger of the right hand, and group two received feedback from the index finger of the left hand.The equipment used in this study consisted of two Systec, Inc., T2-P thermal trainers. The experimenter placed the thermistor of the instrument on the assigned index finger of the subject. Scotch brand transparent tape, 1/2 inch wide, was used to attach the termistor to the subject's finger and care was taken to insure that the tape did not restrict the flow of blood.The study consisted of five sessions, and each session was 20 minutes in length. The first session consisted only of 20 minutes of adaption to the treatment room and to the thermal trainer. The subject was instructed to relax during this period, and after five minutes of adaption the thermal. trainer was turned on; however, no feedback was provided to the subject. The temperature at the end of 15 minutes was recorded and defined as the subject's basal temperature.Sessions two, three, four, and five were identical to each other in time period design. There were five minutes of adaption and 15 minutes of visual feedback. The end-temperature was recorded for each of these sessions.The data were subjected to a two way analysis of variance with repeated measures on one factor. The F value obtained for the interaction between the locus of feedback and the performance for the number of sessions was not statistically significant at the .05 level. Therefore, the group that received feedback from the dominant side did not learn the voluntary central of hand temperature faster than the group that received feedback from the non-dominant side.In addition, there was no support for 2 informal hypotheses which were tested. There was no significant difference in performance between the dominant hard feedback group and the non-dominant hand feedback group. The number of sessions did make a significant difference in endtemperature scores. However, this hypothesis had not been selected for an a priori test and so it could not be rejected at the a priori .05 level of confidence. A Scheffe test revealed that the differences for the s' le marginal effects were not significantly different at the .05 level of significance.

Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet med denna studie var att jämföra effekterna av excentrisk isokinetisk träning med och utan elektromyografisk biofeedback (EMG BF). För att uppfylla syftet användes följande frågeställningar: Resulterar träning med EMG BF i en större styrkeökning än utan? Ökar den viljemässiga aktiveringsförmågan (AF) som ett resultat av styrketräning? Blir ökningen ännu större om man dessutom använder sig av EMG BF-träning? Finns det en skillnad i träningseffekt hos antagonist-coaktiveringen mellan grupperna (med och utan EMG BF)? Metod I denna studie deltog 20 friska, fysiskt aktiva studenter vid Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan (GIH) i Stockholm. Försökspersonerna delades slumpmässigt in i två grupper. En grupp (n=10) genomgick träning utan biofeedback (ejFB), och den andra (n=10) genomgick träning med feedback (FB). Test och träning genomfördes på en isokinetisk dynamometer (Isomed 2000 Basic). Försökspersonerna tränade sitt högra ben, tre ggr/vecka i fem veckor. Båda grupperna (ejFB och FB) utförde samma träningsprogram. Försökspersonerna testades vid två tillfällen, före och inom en vecka efter respektive träningsprogram. Under träningen var hävarmens rörelse från 0°(sträckt ben) till 60°med konstant vinkelhastighet 20°/s. Resultat Efter träningsperioden observerades att för båda grupperna förbättrades benets knäextensionsstyrka statistiskt signifikant (p<0,05). Det fanns ingen signifikant skillnad i styrkeökning mellan grupperna. Quadricepsmusklernas aktiveringsförmåga hos FB-gruppen ökade statistiskt signifikant efter träningsperioden medan ejFB-gruppen inte visade en sådan effekt. Det fanns en tendens till skillnad i hamstring-coaktiveringen efter träning mellan grupperna, där FB-gruppen hade mindre coaktivering än ejFB-gruppen (p=0,07). Slutsats Den viktigaste delen av hypotesen, att ett träningsprogram av kombinerade isokinetiska kontraktioner och EMG BF ger betydande vinster i maximalt kraftmoment hos quadricepsmusklerna, bekräftades inte. Samtidigt var ökningen i aktiveringsförmåga för FB-gruppen efter fem veckors träning signifikant högre än den för ejFB-gruppen, vilket är i linje med hypotesens andra del, och är en av effekterna då man använder EMG BF i styrketräningsprogram. Man kan hävda att för att visa en tydlig effekt i styrkeökning spelar längden på studien en viktig roll. / Aim The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of eccentric isokinetic training with and without EMG biofeedback (BF). The following questions were posed: Does training with EMG BF result in a larger strength increase than without? Does the voluntary level of activation increase as a result of strength training? Will the increase be larger if EMG BF is provided? Is there a difference between groups in training effects on antagonist coactivation between the groups (with and without EMG BF)? Method In this study 20 healthy, physically active students at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH) in Stockholm participated. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups. One group (n=10) performed training without biofeedback (ejFB) and the other group (n=10) performed training with feedback (FB). Tests and training were performed on an isokinetic dynamometer (Isomed 2000 Basic). The subjects trained their right leg three times per week during five weeks. Both groups (ejFB and FB) performed the same training programme. The subjects were tested at two occasions, before and within one week after the respective training programme. During the training, the motion of the lever arm of the dynamometer ranged from 0° (straight leg) to 60° at a constant angular velocity of 20°/s. Results After the training period it was observed that for both groups the knee extension strength of the leg improved statistic significantly 35.6 %, (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in strength increase between the groups. The level of activation of the quadriceps muscles for the FB group increased significantly after the training period whereas the ejFB group shows no such effect. There was a tendency of difference in hamstring coactivation between the groups, with the FB group showing less coactivation than the ejFB group (p=0.07). Conclusion The most important part of the hypothesis, i.e. that a training programme combined with isokinetic contractions and EMG BF give considerable gains in maximal torque of the quadriceps muscles, was not confirmed. At the same time the increase in level of activation for the FB group after five weeks of training was significantly higher than for the ejFB group, which is in line with the second part of the hypothesis, and is one of the effects of the use of EMG BF in strength training programme. One can assert that the length of the study plays an important role in obtaining a clear effect of strength increase.

No description available.