Abstract
The effect of biofeedback training usually depends on the frequency of training. However, the difflculty of usage, the weight, or the cost of the equipment used for the biofeedback sometimes prevents daily training. In the present study, the possibility of self regulation of heart rate decrease by the use of a simple wrist-watch-style heart rate monitor was investigated. This heart rate monitor is easy to use and to wear, and is light and inexpensive. But the visual biofeedback information of this heart rate monitor did not easily reduce the arousal level. In this study, twenty four subjects (eighteen males and six females) were assigned to one of three groups of equal numbers : the heart rate biofeedback with autogenic training group (A), the heart rate training group (B), and the non-feedback (control) group (C). Each training session to reduce of heart rates consisted of 10 min. of adaptation, and 12 sessions of 50 sec. of feedback per day, which was continued for six consecutive days. Pre- and post-voluntary control was tested, with no other feedback, just before and just after all training sessions. The results of this experiment showed that the autogenic training resulted in an effective decrease in heart rate on the beginning sessions. But subjects who acquired their own strategy during the biofeedback training showed accelerated decreases in heart rate. On the voluntary control test, measured with the simple wrist-watch-style heart rate monitor, groups A and B showed accelerated decreases in heart rate, whereas group C did not.
