The diploma thesis explores the use biofeedback balls called SunBall® as a possible alternative in hand diagnostics and grip therapy in occupational therapy practice. This thesis includes theoretical knowledge about stroke with emphasis on upper limb from the point of view of occupational therapist. It describes the types of grips and discusses the use of a robotic biofeedback in occupational therapy practice. It includes basic information about SunBall® machine, which is used in the practical part of the thesis. The practical part of the thesis evaluates the benefit of the machine in interventions with patients after stroke in subacute and chronic phase. It also presents its possibilities of use in hand diagnostics. Performing these results objectively was achieved by the use of specific occupational therapy examination and also by standardized method, such as modified Ashworth scale, Jamar dynamometer or goninometric measurement. As the results of this thesis show, there is an apparent positive influence on the upper limb and grip therapy according to the disability of probands. There was no success in finding an appropriate application of the measured modalities of the machine in the area of upper limb and grip diagnostics. Key words: stroke, biofeedback, upper limb robotic therapy, SunBall

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a medical term describing the heart’s natural varying time difference between heartbeats (called NN-intervals). A higher HRV i.e. a larger variability between NN-intervals is connected to healthiness, and lower HRV to unhealthy states. Biofeedback (BF) is a method that can detect and send physiological signals back to the user on a screen. Every individual has a resonant frequency, and when breathing at this frequency, the interplay between blood pressure and respiration causes HRV to increase momentarily. HRV biofeedback aims at increasing HRV, by measuring heart rhythm and respiration to guide the user in resonant breathing. This thesis had the objective to investigate the effectiveness of one 20 minutes long biofeedback session with resonant frequency breathing. The hypothesis was that the time frame would be longer than two hours. It was carried out with 12 healthy volunteers, who participated in a biofeedback session with an Android application, and afterwards 5 minutes long ECG measurements were made every half hour for two hours. A control session was held with the same participants to give the trial more scientific strength. The result showed that a 20 min resonant breathing biofeedback session can elevate Standard Deviation of NN intervals (SDNN) significantly (p < 0.05), 2 hours after the biofeedback session. The conclusion was that the hypothesis cannot be rejected, but the result is too weak to strengthen it much. Further research is needed to draw more conclusions about the time frame of HRV elevations in healthy people.

Performance anxiety and stress are forefront problems for performers in the music industry. Within music training programs, these problems are particularly debilitating. These students are concerned both about performance situations and also their personal lives. The following study compared two treatments, heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) on the effects of cortisol and self-reported stress and mood before and after a required end of semester performance. Thirty students enrolled in a college music program participated in the five-visit intervention (14 in the HRV biofeedback group and 16 in the CFT group). Stress levels, measured by self-report, salivary cortisol, and salivary alpha amylase, showed no group differences between the CFT and HRV groups. Both groups had statistically significant improvement following the intervention on pre-performance DASS scores and alpha-amylase scores, showing lower sympathetic activation and lower report of mood symptoms despite the stress of the required performance. Cortisol and negative affect did not appear to be impacted by the intervention, however, cortisol returned to baseline levels 15 minutes after the intervention, showing relatively quick recovery for both groups. Further research with a larger, more diverse sample and control group is warranted.

Minority groups are at a disadvantage when seeking psychological treatment. Interventions are often less effective for minority populations when treatment outcomes are compared to Anglo populations. Studies indicate that the stigma associated with mental health disorders and seeking psychological intervention within these minority subgroups may be at fault for this disparity. In this study, we explored this idea by examining what methods of intervention Hispanic-identified individuals are more likely to seek out. Participants were given the option to enlist in a biofeedback approach to intervention as well as a supportive talk psychotherapy. Participants were drawn from the community population in Utah County via Mountainlands Community Health Center. Before taking part in the study, they were asked to indicate their cultural identity based on a series of criteria as well as their perceived stigma associated with mental health interventions. Lastly, participants completed exit interviews to quantitatively explore their reasoning for choosing the treatment approach they did, what they liked about their approach, and why they did not choose the other approach. The data collected was analyzed using a modified approach to consensual qualitative research methods.

In this dissertation, we aimed at better understanding the role of learning in shaping the contents of consciousness. To capture variations in consciousness, we took subjective measures as a starting point, and we performed several studies measuring their relation to human behavior, peripheral physiology and brain physiology in about 160 participants. We first focused on the learning mechanisms implicated in learning with feedback from the body, and then investigated how autonomic responses related to several aspects of awareness in associative learning tasks. Our results provide evidence that people can improve in their sensitivity to discriminate between mental states, while their confidence in doing so is unaffected. Our results also indicate no evidence for the malleability of phasic heart rate response by implicit knowledge. Taken together, these results suggest that consciousness is not easily influenced by learning with external feedback from the body. At a more abstract conceptual level, we explored several methodological considerations when interpreting changes in subjective reports and separated the potential contributions of knowledge and direct perception. Finally, we presented a novel taxonomy for categorizing neurofeedback paradigms, which may be of help to disentangle the learning process that is implicated in neurofeedback. / Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This paper investigates if real-time biofeedback can be used to enhance individual player experience by increasing the sense of flow and immersion with the player and to what extent this can be achieved. We used an oximeter, the Contec CMS50D+ to capture live biometric data which was in turn interpreted and implemented in the game Half-Life 2. The data was used to alter the damage taken and inflicted by the player, the timescale and the field of view, all to enhance the players sense of flow and immersion.An experiment group playing the modification and a control group playing the original game were evaluated, whose test results were compared to one another to analyze the alterations. The test subjects filled out a game experience questionnaire customized to this game and research, and were lastly interviewed. While the results indicate that it is possible to enhance gameplay experience by using biometric data, further research is needed in order to conclude to what extent this is possible.

In recent years, behavioral approaches for the treatment of essential hypertension have received considerable research attention. Biofeedback and relaxation training have been the behavioral treatments most often used for lowering high blood pressure. The present study compared the separate use of EMG and skin temperature biofeedback in treating essential hypertension, with a combined approach utilizing both types of feedback. Twenty-one hyper- tensive subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions: (a) EMG biofeedback, (b) skin temperature biofeedback, or (c) both EMG and skin temperature biofeedback. In addition, a control group consisting of patients randomly chosen from a local cardiology clinic was utilized. After an eight week treatment period, a statistically significant pretest-posttest main effect was found for treatment groups for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, there was no significant difference between the three treatment groups. The results did yield a significant interaction effect in comparing the treatment groups to the control group for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure reductions.

The present study investigated the effectiveness of health related feedback as a positive reinforcer of abstinence from smoking during the 11 week period following cessation. Fifty-three subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) maintenance program plus health related feedback (MF), (b) maintenance program only (M) and, (c) discussion control (D). All groups received an aversive treatment for smoking after which the MP group received coping skills raining and several forms of health related feedback, the M group received coping skills training only, and the D group received discussion. Groups did not differ significantly in abstinence at each of the 11 weeks.

The purpose of this investigation was to separate the effects, and determine the optimal and most feasible methods, of promoting skin temperature increase in a clinical prison population. There were no significant differences among the instructional sets with respect to skin temperature increase. Skin Temperature feedback significantly delayed the time of maximum temperature increase. However, the average delay of 3.5 minutes was not considered to be clinically significant. No other significant effects were evidenced from feedback training. It was suggested that the lack of differential effects among the instructional sets and feedback training may be a characteristic of the early stages of training and that significant differences might emerge if training were continued over a greater number of sessions.The question was raised as to whether skin-temperature training had taken place during the two training sessions. The subjects may have been displaying a nonspecific "relaxation response" or habituation to the experimental situation. It may take more than two sessions before significant conditioning of the skin-temperature response occurs. Recommendations for future research were specified, including an increase in the number of training sessions and the addition of new control procedures.

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