Heart rate changes associated with EMG and alpha biofeedback.

Physiological concomitants of relaxation are needed to characterize objectively the response to biofeedback training. Ss (N = 30) received either alpha, EMG, or no biofeedback training. Heart rate, EMG, and alpha activity were measured in all groups. Increases in alpha and decreases in EMG were noted in their respective feedback groups. Heart rate, however, was not related systematically to these changes, and no significant changes in heart rate occurred in any group.

Changes in heart rate following eyes-closed alpha enhancement.

Subjects (n = 20 females 18 to 26 yr. old) who had been trained in an eyes-closed alpha-enhancement task were grouped according to performance and changes in heart rate were compared. Subjects who showed a facility for producing alpha also evidenced a small decrease in heart rate while a small increase in heart rate while a small increase in heart rate was shown by the low alpha-output group.

Effects of true and inverted feedback on integrated occipital alpha.

Ambient illumination had no effect on baseline levels of alpha of 20 female university students who had their eyes closed, and significant increases from these levels were obtained through true but not inverted feedback procedures. These results indicate that alpha enhancement can be obtained in a manner that is not explicable in terms of disinhibition processes.

Clinical correlates of the PRF Androgyny scale in an alcoholic population.

Clinical correlates of the PRF Andro were examined in an alcoholic population. Measures included the Sensation Seeking Scale, Eysenck Personality Inventory, Symptom checklist--90, the Cornell Medical Index and Rotter's Locus of Control. Of 28 possible relationships, only five measures were found to be weakly associated with androgynous subtypes. Androgynous subtypes appear largely unrelated to the psychological and physical health of alcoholics.

Resting levels of alpha and the Eysenck Personality Inventory.

The number of microvolt seconds of alpha rhythm emitted during a five-minute period were collected for 30 male and 30 female subjects. This measure of alpha abundance was then compared in subjects who scored high and in those who scored low on the E and N scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Subjects who scored low on the E scale tended to have a significantly greater number of microvolt seconds of alpha than did subjects who scored high on the scale. No differentiation on the basis of emitted alpha was possible for subjects scoring high and low on the N scale.

Heart rate, muscle tension, and alpha production of transcendental meditators and relaxation controls.

A group of transcendental meditators, and a group of control subjects instructed to relax, were compared with respect to degree of relaxation reached as measured by changes in heart rate, tension of the frontalis muscle, and occipital alpha production. The only significant changes were decreases in these measures over time in the control subjects. The changes in the controls were probably the consequence of sleep or the onset of sleep.

A comparison of EMG feedback and progressive muscle relaxation training in anxiety neurosis.

Two similar groups of adult psychiatric patients carrying the diagnosis of anxiety neurosis were compared in their response to different methods of training in deep muscle relaxation. One group received EMG feedback and the other a modification of the Jacobson Progressive Relaxation method. The frontalis muscle was chosen as the target for feedback training and for the measurement of tension reduction in both groups, for the reason that this muscle has been shown to reflect the general muscle tension level in anxious patients. Training was carried out under controlled laboratory conditions, and objective muscle tension levels were obtained. Overall changes in the status of the anxiety symptoms, as determined by global ratings from patients and from primary therapists, were also compared in the two groups at the end of training. The results of the study indicated that both EMG feedback and the progressive muscle relaxation training produced significant reductions in frontalis tension levels. However, EMG feedback was found to be generally superior in producing larger reductions in muscle activity, with a concomitant relief in anxiety symptoms, for a greater number of the patients.

Subjective aspects of alpha enhancement.

Early reports on enhancing occipital alpha through feedback noted that subjects reported the experience as being pleasant and relaxing. This paper reports the subjective experiences of 140 subjects who participated in four studies which examined the alpha enhancement phenomenon. Under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions, approximately 50 per cent of the subjects reported that alpha enhancement was "pleasant' and 50 per cent "unpleasant/neutral'. With eyes-open training conditions, about half the subjects stated that the experience was "relaxing' and the other half "not relaxing'. During eyes-closed training, 63 per cent of the subjects noted that enhancing alpha was "relaxing', while 37 per cent reported that the experience was "not relaxing'. However, in the last case the circular relationship between increased alpha and deep relaxation may obtain.