The effects of false feedback regarding subject's heart rate (HR) changes on preference of female nude slides were studied by manipulating his opportunity of self-persuation. Forty male students were divided into four groups. After the first presentation of 10 slides, SS in three groups were falsely informed about the relationship between their HR changes and slides. In Group (I) 5 slides were randomly selected and Ss were informed that their HR had increased to those slides at the first presentation of 10 slides. To the other 5 slides, however, they were told that their HR had not changed. In Group (II) Ss were informed that 5 slides to which HR had increased at the first presentation would be shown, while in Group (III) they were informed that 5 slides to which HR had not changed would be presented. In Group (IV), after the second presentation of 5 slides, Ss were told that those slides had evoked HR-increase. Five slides shown to Group (II), (III), and (IV) were randomly chosen. Results showed that Ss in Group (I), (II), and (III) who had opportunity of self-persuation at the second presentation of the slides evaluated those slides to which false HR-increase information was given as more attractive than those slides to which false HR-constant information was given. These results were not due to the familiarity of those slides presented longer and to actual HR changes.

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The effects of feedback-mode upon instrumental learning of heart rate changes were examined in 20 rats which were deeply curarized and maintained by artificial respiration. Ten rats were randomly assigned to the following two feedback-mode groups. In 1RR Group, Ss were presented a continuous feedback on the basis of 1 beat unit, on the other hand, information about heart rate changes was fed back to Ss on the basis of 5 beats unit in 5RR Group. Furthermore, in each of the two groups, half the Ss were randomly rewarded for increase of heart rate and the other half for decrease. The trial of instrumental learning of heart rate changes was started by the onset of a tone (2000 Hz, 82 dB), and the training of 300 trials was carried on VI schedule with a mean intertrial interval of 30 sec. Heart rate and blood pressure responses recorded during a test trial in which a tone was presented for 5 sec in every 10th trial were analyzed. As can be seen in Fig. 2 and 3,each group of the Ss learned to increase or decrease their heart rate, respectively, in order to escape and/or avoid the mild electric shocks consisting of a , 2 sec rectangular pulse of .3 ma which were delivered to S's tail. Differences of the changes for the opposite directions were significant in 1 RR Group (F=5.37,df=1/56 , P>.025) and in 5 RR Group (F=59.43,df=1/56,P<.005). And in case of the heart rate deceleration, difference of the heart rate changes between 1RR and 5RR Groups was not significant. On the other hand, however, 5 RR Group showed a highly significant heart rate acceleration than 1 RR Group in the case of acceleration (F=l4.11,df=1/56,P<.005). From the above mentioned results, it is suggested that feedback-mode is an important factor to determine the degree of heart rate changes in this kind of learning. And this facts indicate that the acquisition of heart rate speeding and slowing appears to involve different psychophysiological mechanisms as were shown in our pharmacological studies.

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The present experiment was designed to examine the effects of respiration rate (RR) upon heart rate (HR) and R-.R interval. Five subjects participated 8 sessions, one of which was consisted of 8 respiration conditions (25,50,75,100,125,150,175,and 200% of normal RR values). RR was controlled by the auditory respiration signal (500 Hz, 40 dB), and respiration depth was held constant by the analog feedback of respiration curves. The results were as follows : RR affected cardiac arrythmia, faster breathing producing more stable R-R intervals. But through the analyses of rest's and pre-trial's cardiac responses, it was found that RR produced little changes of HR level. Since the prestimulation level seems at times to affect the response, it is necessary to obtain a clearer picture from further experiment and data analysis.

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The biofeedback technique has recently been introduced in the treatment of psychosomatic disorders from the standpoint of behavioral therapy, and it has recognized that the various autonomic functions which have long been believed to be uncontrollable can be modified. However, there have been only few studies concerning a respiratory feedback. An attempt was made to investigate modification of respiratory pattern and to explore the practicability of its learning in selected patients, with using a Braun tube monitor and respiratory feedback. Assigned to the study were 7 psychosomatic patients at age between 17-62 years. The recording of respiration was obtained by a cathode ray tube monitor and an electromagnetic recorder via an electromagnetic respiratory pickup attached to the surface of the body. The data indicated that the protraction of respiratory interval or the diminution of respiratory rate as well as the increase of both costal and abdominal breathing with respiratory biofeedback method.

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This study attempted to evaluate influence of the audio-GSR biofeedback on the experimental detection of deception. One of five cards was selected by each S and deceiving of own lying was required. GSR amplitude to the selected card was Tanked within each of 8 sessions. And the audio-GSR biofeedback was given in the random 4 sessions and was not given in the remaining sessions. The major findings were as follows ; 1) the rate of detection of deception was much higher than the chance level in both conditions, and 2) the mean rank of GSR amplitude to the selected card with audio-GSR biofeedback was significantly approximated to the first rank as sessions proceeded.

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We re-examined the results of the previous studies as to the relationship between skin temperature change and respiration change. Experiment I (reported at the 39 th Meeting of the Japanese Psychological Association) Eighteen male and female college students were instructed to change the skin temperature of their dominant hand's index finger. The effects of the conditions as to the skin temperature were significant. We measured the respiration rate and found no significant effect in its analysis of variance. We could find no clear relationship between skin temperature and respiration as a whole. But we could not ignor the respiration factor in some aspects. The respiration rates before and after the sudden increase of skin temperature were compared, and there was no difference. At the sudden decrease, however, just before the peak the respiration rate increased and it gradually decreased as the temperature decreased. The subjects whose respiration amplitude in training period became larger than that in rest period showed better success in the temperature increase condition. And they made larger decrease in the decrease condition, too. Thus the increased amplitude of respiration seems to have some contribution to skin temperature control. Experiment II (reported at the 2nd Meeting of the Association of Biofeedback Research) Eleven male children were instructed to change the skin temperature of their hands, one hand warm, the other cold. No relationship between skin temperature and respiration was found as a whole. When the temperature difference between the both hands suddenly became large, the respiration rate increased in many cases. And when the difference became small, the respiration rate decreased. Both changes of the temperature difference were made by the temperature decrease of one of the hands. These results made it difficult to deny the influence of the respiration over skin temperature control. They might be related to each other with some unknown complex mechanism.

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The purpose of this article is to demonstrate whether subjects (Ss) differing in the Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) score would also differ in their peripheral skin temperature controllability. The ease of control of skin temperature might have a functional relationship with anxiety since peripheral vasomotor responses are among the more reliable physiological correlates of anxiety. Method Subjects. The MAS was administered to over 70 female students at Sophia University. The 28 Ss were selected on the basis of their scores of MAS (Table 1). Apparatus. Digital temperature was measured with two therministors taped one centimeter from the interphalangeal joint of the index finger on the left and right hands. The feedback which the S was given consisted of lights and a needle on a meter changing in rate with the temperature. Procedure. Ss of four experimental groups were instructed that their task was to increase the left digital temperature more than the right, and that the increases would deflect the needle on a feedback meter to the left and would turn on turn on the red light. A control group was instructed simply to sit down. All Ss received three daily 20-min. training sessions for 3 consecutive days. Results As can be seen in Figure 1,the results indicated that anxiety had a significant influence on the control of hand temperature, with the middle MAS group reaching higher finishing temperatures than either of the other groups. An analysis of variance performed on the group and the day-digital temperature yielded significant results (Table 2). Discussion It suggests that the middle MAS Ss performed more successful control of digital temperature, whereas, the highest and lowest MAS Ss failed to produce significant operant changes of control. With respect to this finding, the middle MAS Ss have better ability than either the highest or lowest MAS Ss to correctly perceive and control proprioceptive information from various viscera, including the peripheral vasomotor.

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A study was made of the effect of EMG feedback upon muscle relaxation. Twenty healthy subjects were divided into two groups of ten. The experimental group attempted to relax the forehead muscle with the aid of a tone, which change of pitch is proportional to the EMG activity in the forehead muscle. The control group attempted to do the same without receiving feedback. Each subject had five 30-min. training sessions on different days. The results obtained were as follows : 1. The experimental group succeeded in significantly decreasing the EMG activity in the forehead as compared with the control group. 2. Most of the experimental subjects felt that they were able to "loosen up " and that making efforts to relax did not help. In the control group, "I don't know if I became less tense." was the common comment. 3. No significant changes in heart or respiratory rate were apparent during the experiment.

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A number of different therapeutic approaches have been used in the treatment of writer's cramp, including muscle relaxation training, retraining systematic desensitization methods, conditioning method using electric stimulus (Liversedge), etc. Clearly the therapeutic strategies have not been consistent, and the functional writing disturbance is still of ambiguous etiology. Since EMG biofeedback training to modify writer's cramp has not been reported previously, we attempted biofeedback training of EMG in seven cases of writer's cramp. Firstly, a control group of 10 normal subjects ( 5 males and 5 females ; ages 21 to 30,mean 25.5) was recruited. In the first session all subjects showed a significant decrease in EMG activity on their forearm, using EMG biofeedback. Seven patients of writer's cramp, however, showed a higher EMG activity and could not decrease it in the first session. An analysis of variance showed a significant difference between two groups. After about 10 sessions of biofeedback training, conducted twice a week, some patients showed subjective and objective improvements in their symptoms. In this case autogenic or relaxation training was performed in parallel with biofeedback training. We conclude that biofeedback training on writer's cramp is effective when used with autogenic or relaxation training. Also, the patients become deeply relaxed with autogenic or relaxation training.

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Although many biofeedback experiments on EEG, EMG, skin temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, GSR, etc. have been made, so far the biofeedback study of postural sway is that of Litvinenkova and Hlavacka (1973). The purpose of our experiment was to test the hypothesis that postural sway can be controlled by using visual feedback procedures. The experimental procedure was as follows. The projection of the center of gravity to the horizontal plane of a standing subject was determined by measuring the weight at three points of the supporting plane. Each point was supported by three strain gauges. Any weight change was amplified and recorded on an X-Y recorder, and its area measured afterwards by a planimeter. Subjects were instructed to observe the pattern on the X-Y recorder and to try to minimize their postural sway as much as possible. One session consisted of 20 trials, each trial lasting for 30 seconds. Subjects were 40 healthy college students who were divided into two groups, the FC group and the CF group. In the FC group visual feedback was employed in the first session, but not in a subsequent (no feedback control) session. In the CF group, the order was reversed. The interval between two sessions was about six weeks. The results showed that the mean percentage changes of postural sway in the feedback session was significantly (p<0.01) less than that in the control session (Fig. 1). However, the mean area changes of each four sessions were not statistically significant (Fig. 2). Thus it is suggested that postural sway can be controlled by visual feedback procedures.

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The effects of alpha rhythm feedback training on the relief of severe pain due to neoplasm were assessed in three patients. Each patient was trained to increase the amount of alpha rhythm by providing a feedback signal (tone) regarding the occurrence of activity in their electroencephalographic record. Each patient received eight 40-min. alpha feedback trainings following a progressive relaxation. 1) Case 1,Recurrent rectal cancer, female, 47 yrs, MAS 31. Her condition was good except the complains of upper abdominal pain. 2) Case 2. Recurrent uterus cancer, female, 57 yrs, MAS 27. Her condition was poor and complained low abdominal and lower limb pain. 3) Case 3. Recurrent gastric cancer, male, 25 yrs, MAS 25. His condition was poor and complained upper abdominal and back pain. The effects of training were as follows. 1) In two patients (Case 1 and 2) the significant pain relief, the increase of alpha rhythm by 50%, and the lowest pain threshold and tolerance were obtained. 2) In one patient (Case 3) pain was not effectively diminished and no change in the pain threshold and tolerance was observed. 3) Progressive relaxation facilitated the effectiveness of alpha training.

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This report dealed with several basic problems in the respiratory biofeedback research. Some of these problems were concerned with the measurement of respiration and others with the data analysis of respiratory cardiac responses. In the former it was indicated that there were needs for the improvements of transducer, DC recording of respiration curves, and poly-recording from the chest and abdomen in case of using a strain gauge method. In the latter it was discussed that prestimulation cardiac activities affected the responses In Stimulation conditions, and that it was necessary to observe the cyclic changes of R-R intervals. But the degree of these changes is so slight that the recoder with a broader full scale should be used in this kind of research.

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The substantial experiments have shown that autonomic responses such as heart rate and blood pressure can be not only classically conditioned but also instrumentally established in the completely paralyzed and artificially respirated rats, to say nothing of the question whether the amount of changes of the responses caused by conditioning is more or less. Nevertheless, many theoretically and phenomenally unsolved issues remain in this kind of conditioning, and it is necessary that various studies should be done in the future to investigate and re-examine these problems. For years we have investigated primarily avoidance conditioning and operant conditioning of heart rate and blood pressure responses in the curarized rat. And we have confirmed that the animal could indeed learn to increase and decrease the heart rate and blood pressure in order to avoid and/or escape a painful electric shock and to obtain a reward of intracranial stimulation as described in Fig. 1 and 2. Now, to evaluate and provide a basic support for the clinical research we should have knowledge of the relationships among external stimuli, the brain and the internal organs. Learning paradigm can influence the observed behavior or a visceral organ in the following way : (1) through a learned skeletal response which is mechanically or chemically linked to the visceral organ, (2) through the mechanical or metabolic action of a learned skeletal response on the receptive field of an unconditioned autonomic reflex, (3) directly through the autnomic nervous system to the organ, and (4) directly through the autonomic nervous system and a particular skeletal response. Curare will block the visceral response in (1) and (2) but not (3). In case (4), if the skeletal response is primary and the innate connection is central, curare will not block the response. (for review, see Dworkin and Miller, 1976).

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From our studies of the modification of skin temperature, EMG, heart rate, blood pressure and body movement by biofeedback procedures, two main conclusions may be made at present. One of these is concerned with the laws governing biofeedback and the other with their clinical applications. Whether or not both somatic and cognitive mediators are necessary in learning control is a problem still unsolved, but we consider it almost impossible to draw a firm conclusion in the case of human subjects. Desirable reinforcers seem to be related to what is internally induced rather than what is administered from outside. Examples are curiosity or a satisfaction to have control over one's involuntary processes. We have been treating psychosomatic patients by psychotherapy and it is our opinion that psychotherapy and biofeedback training have common features. That is, psychotherapy is a way to learn a new mode of adaptation by developing awareness or insight into one's own behavior, while biofeedback enables one to modify and control what were once considered involuntary and automatic functions by teaching specific physiological processes with more refined techniques.

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Some characteristic problems should be resolved in development of biofeedback devices besides common problems mostly found in other ME devices. They are the modality of the feedback stimulus, quantitative or binary feedback, immediate or delayed feedback, selection of the response, elimination of noise and artifact, etc. Biofeedback training has been said fo be free from a harmful after-effect. There is, however, a possibility that noise and artifact have not only a disturbing effect but also a harmful effect in the feedback training. For instance, an increment of alpha waves is often tried for tension reduction. However, so far only a simple filter is used to select alpha waves, a pseudo-feedback signal is triggered by the abnormal muscle activities or the body movements. If the subject is trained in such a situation, an increment of tension far from tension reduction will be learned. Elimination of noise or artifact is of importance especially in a small type biofeedback device which is available in any place. We are developing a new biofeedback device equiped a logic circuit to prevent the effect of noise and artifact.

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