This paper is concerned with a radio telemetry system for the measurement of skin potential level (SPL). It is known that SPL reflects the level of vigilance under inactive state of body, such as sitting and lying. The fact may be applied to controlling sleepiness with the aid of the biofeedback technique. In order to clarify the relation between SPL and sleepiness and to test the possibility of its application, we made a compact telemeter device for SPL measurement, which was reported in the previous paper. In this study we improved it in size, weight, stability, and power consumption. We used FM-FM type modulation to make the transmission more stable. The weight of the transmitter is 90g and its size is as small as a cigarette case, which permits free movement of body in measuring SPL. Any commercial FM receiver can be used as a receiver of this system. Its output, I. e. audio signal, is demodulated into the original wave form of the SPL through a phase-locked-loop circuit. With the use of the system, SPL was measured under various conditions such as doing sports, whole-night sleep, and driving a car. The obsedved changes in SPL show that it can be regarded as a good index for the vigilance level under active state of body as well as under resting state.

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We have been studying the general purpose biofeedback system which helps the doctor decide the feedback training methods by selecting some parameters with no programming, execute realtime feedback trainings, and then make the data analysis. Now we have developed a desktop system which is composed of the main section, the input unit, and the data processor. (FIG. 1) This system has five characteristics ; 1) Compactness : Using a 16 bits personal computer (MULTI 16), desktop system has been developed. 2) Multi channel : 8 ch physiological information are available. 3) Facility : Doctor can decide the feedback method by selecting the data processor modules and changing the variables and parameters which are presented on the display. 4) Flexibility : Doctor can replace the part of the existing system with his own program according to his method. 5) No constraint : Telemetry system releases patients from constraints.

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The purpose of this study was to enhance the tolerance against a stressful situation by biofeedback training, using a recently developed BF system, MIBS-I (Mitsubishi Interactive Biofeedback System-I, Ohsuga et al 1981). Out of two male participants of the Skill Olympic, one was trained to decrease and stabilize the heart rate (HR), and the other was trained to increase the amount of Fmθ activities. After the training sessions, a strong uncomfortable tone was presented to examine the control-ability under the stressor. 1. HR The HR subject could decrease the means of HR by using the respiratory activity. The SDs became smaller as the trainig progressed. Under the stres sor, he also showed the learned effect. 2. Fmθ Tne Fmθ is a 6-7 Hz theta rhythm detected from the frontal midline during the performance of some mental tasks, e.g., Uchida-Kraepelin Test. Tne Fmθ subject could increase tne Fmθ-perce ntage of total training time using binary audio-feedback, while doing Uchida-Kraepelin Test. Father investigations on the method of introducing the stressor into the training situations and the method of evaluating the feedback effect are needed.

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As recently, a number of reports appeared suggesting finger and forehead skin temperature rises along the training to decrease frontalis EMG, the present research was undertaken with the purpose to examine whether control to rise finger skin temperature leads to some change on frontalis and forearm EMG activity as a reverse phenomenon. The present study used 4 subjects who undergone a preliminary day of adaptation followed by four days of traning to control skin temperature (increase). Simultaneous measurements of finger and forehead skin temperatures and EMG of the frontalis and forehand extensor muscles were taken on each day. The results are shown in Fig. 1 : 1) There was a decrease of finger temperature on the first day of adaptation, while an increase was observed during training from the second to the fourth day of the experiment. 2) Fig. 2 shows the covariation between each of the skin temperature and EMG placements; as it can be seen, the covariation between the finger skin temperature and forehand EMG is remarkably greater than for the other combinations regardless of the time mean used for analysis. 3) Fig. 3 shows the degree of correlation (positive/negative) between each of the skin temperature and EMG measurements. As it can be seen, the negative correlation between the finger skin temperature and forearm EMG is relatively larger than the positive one.

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The purpose of this study was to find a strategy to isolate two different effects on the skin temperature (ST) biofeedback training: an active treatment effect and a placebo effect. The experimental group consisted of 41 college students, who volunteered for this study. Other 7 students served as subjects for the control group. The experimental subject met for the training one or two sessios weekly for two months. One session included a series of 10 trials of 110 seconds each with a pause of 20 seconds in between. The training goal was to increase the ST above 90°F on the index fingertip of the left hand monitering by the Bi-tone Derivation Feedback Mode. In this Mode a low-pitched tone was presented whenever the temperature was in creasing, and a high-pitched tone was preseted whenever the temperature was decreasing. This mode was regarded as the normal signal. Two months later, 16 of the experimental subjects and the 7 control subjects participated in the experimental test, which was designed to compare the two groups in terms of the placebo effect using three kinds of feedback signal : a normal signal and two false signals (a reversal tone and a random tone). The subjects were always blind to the randomized presentation of the three signals. According to the obtained data, none of the control subjects were able to increase the ST (Fig. 1), whereas 8 proficient subjects among the 16 experimental subjects were able to increase the ST consistently above 94°F, regardless of the false feedback signals (Fig. 3). Though the remainder of the 16 experimental subjects were able to increase the ST at a higher level tharn the control group, they failed in the self-control due to the influence of pseudo-feedback (Fig. 2). The results suggests that the startegy adapted in the present study can be an effective measure of the placebo effect in the ST biofeedback training.

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In this study, the Rod-and-frame-test (RFT) was used in order to examine some factors which cause differences of progress among bio-feedback subjects. 29 college students (aged 18-24) took part in Skin temperature (ST) bio-feedback training. The 1st RFT of each subject was given before the training, and the 2nd RFT 2 months later. The field-independent subjects in the 1st RFT were more proficient in the self-control of ST bio-feedback than the field-dependent subjects. And, the proficient subjects among those who had been field-dependent in the 1st RFT, shifted to the field-independent group in the 2nd RFT. This result suggests that the self-control of ST bio-feedback training is closely related to individual cognitive style in visual perception of the vertical position of the rod influenced by the frame in the RFT.

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The existence of residual and unnecessary muscle tension has been implicated as a detrimental influence on motor performance and motor skill learning. A method for reducing muscle tension has been provided by the EMG biofeedback training. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of frontal and agonist, biceps b., EMG biofeedback techniques on motor performance. Twelve male university students were matched by the motor performance and then randomly assigned to three groups. All subjects were administered the visual compensatory tracking at pre-and post-test. CG subjects were administered the same task at conditioning blocks as pre- and post-test. But EGI subjects received auditory feedback of frontal EMG level and were reinforced for decreasing the tension level during visual compensatory tracking. EGII subjects received auditory feedback of biceps b. EMG level during visual compensatory tracking at conditioning blocks and were also reinforced for maintaining the optimal tension level. Analysis of covariance of pre- and post-test difference means in integrated tracking error representing motor performance indicated that EGII subjects showed significantly lower improvement in comparison with the other two groups. There was no significant difference in itegrated error between EGI and CG. These results suggest that the frontal EMG biofeedback technique is more effective than agonist, biceps b., EMG biofeedback technique for improving motor performance. There was no definitive evidence that the frontal EMG biofeedback reducing muscle tension influenced muscle tension level for biceps b. and vice versa. However the possibility of such a generalization still exists because of getting lowerer frontal EMG level in EGII.

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The purpose of the study is to get aknowledgments about psychophysiological changes on the addition of EMG biofeedback conditions and apparatus. EMG muti-biofeedback training (BFT) for eight healthy adults were practiced on 32 trials, which had 7. 5 sec muscle contraction of the biceps brachii with 10 sec rest, repeatedly. This experiment were composed from two kind of works of the pursuit tracking and compensative tracking. EMG activities were transformed to the sound and the light as the feedback information and were compared with the external command value to evaluate the performance of these trackings. Following results were presented such as : 1) Integrated error values were decreased and this performance was elevated with trials of BFT in the compensatory tracking better than in the pursuit tracking. 2) After BFT, muscle strength of the fore-arm flexion was appeared lower value of 20% than before BFT. The efficiency of muscular contraction might be improved toward the economical condition with BFT. 3) EMG Power Spectra in the following BFT were changed to the lower frequency band (5-45 Hz) and then these phenomena indicated that tonic motor units and slow-twitch muscle fibers were activiated to the excitatory level.

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A new EEG-EMG biofeedback device was developde by Industrial Products Research Institute and the first commercially available instrument was produced by us. The first instrument was modified in some points for improvements and the second type was produced. In this second type, three kinds of band pass filters are useed. The bio-potential obtained from electrodes on the occipital and the frontal are divided into alph component (8〜13Hz) and EMG+beta component (13〜250Hz) with two kinds of filters. Thus it is possible to discriminate the pure alpha wave from the pseudo-alpha waves. With another third filter theta component (4〜8Hz) can be selected. A recorder is connectable to the main instrument for recording original EEG, EMG+β wave, a wave and θ wave. Appearance of each wave can be detected by earphone or loud speaker, and also by three kinds of signal lamps. B. F. data which were obtained on five persons by this instrument are described in this article. Also this instrument was applied for the therapy of a patient suffering from writer's cramp and some results were obtained.

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Previous reports (Inamori, 1981, 1982) supported the hypothesis that biofeedback aided heart rate (HR) control is analogous to motor skill, because HR control was disturbed as a function of delay feedback length. The purpose of this report was to investgate what kind of motor task is the most appropriate model for self-control of HR. Three expriments, which were similar to the previous one except that skeletal responses were used instead of HR inter-beat intervals, examined the effects of delayed feedback on a tracking task. Subjects tracked the target under four feedback conditions: immediate, 1/2-beat constant delay, 1/2-beat variable delay, and 1-beat delay. Time on target and power spectra of response sequences were compared between conditions. The first motor response was sequential finger tapping, and the inter-tap intervals were sampled at the same inter-beat intervals as HR, but subjects could perceive when a tap occurred. As a result, only the 1/2-beat variable delay disturbed the tracking performance. The second motor response was slowly turning a fishing reel, and the time required for every 0.42 rotation of the reel were measured. In this experiment, subjects could not perceive when a response was sampled. However, results showed no different performance between immediate and 1-beat delay conditions, nor were they consistent with the case of HR. The last motor response was also reel turning, but each sampled time minus 800 msec was integrated and adapted as the controled interval. Results of this experiment were very consistent with those of HR in both tracking performance and power spectra of respoese sequences. The results of these three experiments suggest that the plant charactristic of HR control mechanism has an integral element, and that the perception of response occuring has no effect on HR control.

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Biofeedback therapy using the respiratory resistance meter is expected to be effective for bronchial asthma. We experienced 6 cass of 33 year-old woman, 22 year-old woman, 59 year-old woman, 69 year-old man, 43 year-old man, 38 year-old man. Each patient underwent 1 times per week. In 6 cases, the 2 cases were effective and 4 cases were not so effective. On these non-effective 4 cases, could be seen remarkably character of flight into illness, and often they had not continuous regular exercise once a week. Following that fact, we considered that personality of patient was important for getting successful result of biofeedback. It might be very significant to make a further investigation to proceed the biofeedback therapy for bronchial astham.

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Long term biofeedback training of Fmθ was tried in one subject. Trainings were done intermittently over ten months. The subject made srial arithmetic addition and the experimentalist informed the subject of appearance of Fmθ in his EEG's by a flicker signal. The subject was instructed to press a button when he felt Fmθ sensation. The hitting rates were instable in the first stage. After 41 days interruption, hitting rate returned to zero, but it augmented to about 60% after the trainings. The subject recognized Fmθ sensation at that period. Since the 2nd stage, the hitting rate was maintained at about 70% even after four months break. With intermittent trainings it reached to 86% at the end of the experiment. The high amplitude Fmθ was easier for the subject to guess correctly than low amplitude Fmθ. Self-control of Fmθ was successful after the 5th trial session even with constant work speed. For producing Fmθ, the subject made an effort to narrow his attention to the work and, on the contrary, for suppressing Fmθ, he distracted his attention from the work. In conclusion, the Fmθ was related to a certain sensation concerning concentration of attention, and the Fmθ appearance can be recognized and controled by the subject himself to considerable extent after a long term biofeedback trainings.

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The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness, of frontal alpha enhancement in relaxation and meditation training. Alpha training at the frontal site is not the same psycho-physiologically as the much studied at the occipital site. Differences include 1) higher artifact, such as EMG activity of forehead muscles or EOG by eye movement, 2) very low amplitude of alpha waves unless the subject is in an extremely calm state of mind. For these reasons, the instrumentation and training methodology were modified from conventional systems. It was found that the participants were able to listen to music through the feedback systems and alpha feedback was accomplished by amplitude modulated music that is presented at the occurrence or disappearance of alpha. It seems that the frequency of alpha is related to psychophysiological state. For instance, slow alpha is related to passive concentration and fast alpha is related to active concentration. These are found by observation of brain waves during Yoga Asana and Savarsana. For relaxation training, therefore, the range of frequency in feedback were set to slow alpha (8 Hz〜10 Hz).

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In this report, we investigated the biofeedback training (BFT) for frontal alpha activities. Six healthy adults. 5 males and l female. Mean age of 35.5 years, served as subjects in BFT. As to the duration of BFT, the training was held once a week for 10 weeks (10 sessions in all). One session was consisted of four traials. The results are as follows. 1) Out of 6 subjects, 3 (High group) were able to increase their frontal alpha appearance time by BFT. But the other 3 subjects (Low group) could not necessarily increse it. In addition, it was found by the power spectrum analysis of frontal EEG that high group subjects were able to increase their amplitude of alpha waves markdly after BFT. 2) It was found that the number of subjective symptoms in the Japan Productivity Center Mental Health Index (JMI) generally decreased after BFT.

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The purpose of our research was to assess the effectiveness of biofeedback circuit during meditation periods experimentary and theoretically, using EEG-EMG biofeedback instruments. We commanded 10 students-Dept. of Electronic Engng.- to meditate, self suggest to grow warmer or to feel heavy in arms, and to have pleasant orunpleasant image, etc. We measured the percentage time Alpha during their self-control peroids without the biofeedback instruments and then with it. Only when it was recognized that their EMG potentials were lower than 2Q μV threshold, their percentage time Alpha were measured. The results showed that the average EEG Alpha increesed more than 20 percent except a few when they had trained using EEG-EMG biofeedback instruments. In this biofeedback loop, controlled variable is the rhythmic potential from thalamus to neocortex in the nervous "Hierarchy Control System". This valiable is compared with the desired value through the feedback circuit consists of the instruments and the auditony nervous system. We consider that the feed forward circuit including the learning function is added to the feedback circuit by each EEG EMG biofeedback training, and the training is to be useful to modify some parameters in this nervous control system.

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EMG biofeedback therapy is usually used in patients with muscle contraction headache. According to repoorts from various institutions, the effectiveness rate of this particular therapeutic method ranged between 62 % and 100 %. The corresponding figure obtained at our clinic was 74.2%. Symptoms of muscle contraction headache are strongly influenced by psychological factops; physical and psychic stress has close bearings upon headache. It has qeen long pointed out that a characteristic personality pattern exists in patients with headache of this type. We investigated these psychological factors for their eventual relationship with the effectiveness of biofeedback therapy in 32 patients. The results indicate that the effectiveness rate tend to be higher in patients with a lesser anxiety or depressive tendency as well as in those with a less marked personality deviation. Even though some reports state that biofeedback therapy brings about an improvement os anxiety and depressive tendency, it seems that biofeedback therapy is unsuited fo^I individuals with severe anxiety and pronounced depressive tendency.

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Biofeedback had gained wide acceptance as a usuful technique in the treatment of migraine and muscle contraction headache (MCH). To investigate relationship between effectiveness of biofeedback and psychological factor, the psychological tests were administered to 59 persons with chronic headaches who received biofeedback training to obtain their headache relief at the Divison of Phychosomatic Medicine of Toho Univ. School of Medicine. Each of the patients was given Yatabe-Guilford test (Y-G test), Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) and Self-Rating Questionnaire for Depression (SRQ-D) at their initial visit and after training was concluded each patients was rated as to their ability to use our biofeedback technique to control headache effectively. A patient was considered successful if his headache activity was reduced by 51% or greater. Among the 59 patients there were 22 with migraine, 37 with MCH. Patients with migraine were trained with skin temperature biofeedback in the usual finger warming procedure without autogenic phrases. In sixteen (84%) of these patients excluding three dropouts, significant relief from migraine headache was obtained. 27 patients of 37 with MCH performed EMG biofeedback training. A favorable response was elicited in nineteen (70%) patients. Comparisons by psychological test between successful and unsuccessful groups were made. 1) A favorable response to biofeedback therapy was elicited most frequently in subjects of Y-G personality type D, and least in those of personality type E. There was significant difference between extrovert subjects and introvert ones. 2) To compare by the anxiety grade, it was found that biofeedback therapy was more effective in the lower anxiety group than in higher anxiety group significantly. However subjects with migraine often responded to biofeedback therapy even if they had high anxiety state. 3) A comparison was made of the rate of response to biofeedback therapy in 3 groups of subjects as divided according to the ration of depression. It was found that subjects in the moderate depressive group most frequently responded to the biofeedback therapy. It seemed that further investigation was needed as to the mechanisms, relationship with psychological factors, and indication of biofeedback therapy for headaches.

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The present study was made to evaluate EMG-biofeedback therapy for two individuals suffering from spasmodic torticollis. The application of the biofeedback technique was not effective in both cases. From this result, I think it will be applicable only to relaxation of entire body muscle, not to anteior neck muscles which show involuntarily contraction. On the other hand, we proofed in another clinical study that behaviour therapy technique of "shaping" which exercise those patients in putting back normally head step by step under the state of relaxation is very effective.

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Currently EMG Biofeedback is being highlighted as one technique for the treatment of psychosomatic disorders. EMG Biofeedback as a therapeutic approach to writer's cramp is thought to be effective by following reasons : 1. Establishment of a good therapeutic relationship through the medium of the EMG (instrument) 2. Effect of suggestion 3. Objective perception of symptom 4. Muscular relaxation training 5. Relearning of writing 6. Removal of psychological stress 7. Awarness of psychological factors 8. Introduction process to psychoanalysis

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