The present study investigated the efficacy of heart rate feedback training in the treatment of panic disorder. Eight patients with anxiety disorders participated in 7 feedback sessions, in which they were instrumentally trained to produce increases and decreases in heart rate in the presence of visual feedback. When they could successfully differentiate between the increase and decrease responses, subjects were instructed to use the decrease response to control anxiety and panic, and to avoid the increase response. Subjects were not made aware of the target responses until training was completed. Clinical improvement was measured through the administration of a psychometric test battery and a daily anxiety/panic diary. A non-anxious Control group, consisting of 10 subjects, was utilized to provide comparisons with the Anxiety group in the areas of feedback skill, baseline psychophysiology, and change in anxiety levels with the development of feedback skill. As a result of feedback training, Anxiety patients learned to produce increases and decreases in heart rate in the presence and absence of feedback. They also reported a decline in anxiety and panic over the course of feedback training. To evaluate whether clinical improvement was related specifically to feedback skill as opposed to non-specific treatment factors, dose-response relations were examined, where a dose was defined as a subject's degree of differentiation between increases and decreases in heart rate, as measured by a t-test. Clinical improvement was measured as the change in number of panic attacks per day, compared to baseline. A positive, significant correlation was found between subjects' degree of feedback skill and decline in panic at a one-month follow-up. A number of alternative explanations for the dose-response relationship are discussed, as well as the limitations of this study. It is concluded that further well-controlled studies will be required to confirm these findings, and to determine the source of the dose-response relationship, although this study provides encouraging evidence for the use of feedback training as a behavioral treatment for panic disorder. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that more intelligent Ss would produce greater increases in peripheral skin temperature using autogenic feedback training. At the completion of training, the Ss were divided into two groups by IQ scores and matched with pretraining (baseline) temperatures. The hypothesis was rejected when results opposite to those predicted occurred. Large group differences, however, prompted a po4t-hoc investigation to determine the statistical significance between group performances. This analysis revealed that the less intelligent Ss experienced greater success (p<.05) in increasing skin temperature. Possible explanations for these results are discussed and considerations for future investigations with biofeedback training and intelligence are suggested.

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The present thesis aims to describe teenagers as peer reviewers and explore possible benefits of giving feedback. My study was carried out in two EFL classrooms in year eight in a Swedish lower secondary school, where the pupils were engaged with the written task to write an informative reply letter in English. The teaching unit included negotiations of a joint criteria list, feedback training, peer review, and the production of first and final drafts of the reply letter. Data were collected from multiples sources: texts produced in class, audio- and video-recordings, questionnaires and interviews. My main findings suggest that pupils can learn about writing from giving feedback. By adopting a reader perspective, the pupils raised their genre and audience awareness. Moreover, the peer-reviewed reply letters served as inspiration both in terms of transfer of structure, such as rhetorical organisation, and of ideas and content. Self-reports indicated that the pupils in my study enhanced their ability to self-assess and edit their own writing, which suggests that transferable skills were developed as a result of peer review. As regards micro-level aspects of writing, reading and commenting on peers’ reply letters seemed to influence a smaller number of pupils to transfer patterns and spelling. In their role as peer reviewers, the pupils successfully identified strengths and weaknesses in their peers’ writing, but the feedback comments did not include much specific formative information. My findings contribute to research on L2 writing and peer feedback by showing that younger learners can benefit from giving feedback. This is significant since previous research has mainly been carried out at university and college level. In addition, by combining text analyses, classroom observation and pupils’ self-reports, my study offers a comprehensive understanding of peer review. / Syftet med min licentiatuppsats är att beskriva tonåringar som kamratbedömare och undersöka möjliga fördelar med att ge feedback. Min studie genomfördes i två engelskklassrum i årskurs åtta i en svensk högstadieskola där eleverna  arbetade med att skriva svarsbrev på engelska. Arbetsområdet inkluderade diskussioner om en gemensam kriterielista, träning i att ge feedback, kamratbedömning och skriftlig produktion av utkast och slutlig version av svarsbrevet. Material samlades in från flera olika källor: de texter som skrevs i klassrummet, ljud- och videoinspelningar, enkäter och intervjuer. Mina resultat visar att elevers eget skrivande kan gynnas genom att ge feedback. Genom att de fick ett läsarperspektiv på sitt skrivande ökade elevernas medvetenhet om genre och mottagare. Dessutom fungerade de brev som eleverna läste och gav feedback på som inspiration, vilket visades genom att de överförde disposition och strukturer, samt idéer och innehåll till sitt eget skrivande. Eleverna uttryckte själva att de förbättrade sin förmåga att självbedöma och rätta sina texter, vilket indikerar att det är möjligt att utveckla överförbara färdigheter genom att bedöma andras texter. Ett mindre antal elever överförde ord och grammatiska strukturer från sina kamraters texter, men överlag påverkades skrivandets mikronivå i mindre utsträckning än makronivån (organisation och innehåll). I sin roll som kamratbedömare kunde eleverna  identifiera styrkor och svagheter i sina klasskamraters texter, men deras feedbackkommentarer innehöll relativt lite formativ information. Tidigare forskning inom området har främst utförts på högskole- och universitetsnivå  och mina resultat bidrar till forskning om skrivande i främmande språk och kamratfeedback genom att visa att också högstadieelevers skrivande kan gynnas av att ge feedback.