Role of the feedback signal in electromyograph biofeedback: The relevance of attention.

Abstract

This article describes two experiments designed to examine the hypothesis that the critical role of the feedback signal in frontalis electromyograph (EMG) biofeedback is an attentional one. In both experiments, high- and low-absorption subjects were assigned to either a biofeedback condition, a no-feedback condition, or an attentional demand condition in which external stimuli, related to relaxation, were presented as an attentional focus. The two experiments differed essentially in the type of attentional demand condition that was employed and varied the compelling nature of the demand on subjects for an external attentional focus. The pattern of results was consistent with the attentional hypothesis. For low-absorption subjects, performance in the biofeedback and attentional demand conditions was equivalent and appreciably greater than in the no-feedback condition. For high-absorption subjects, an interference effect of biofeedback was observed, but data indicated a similar interference effect on the performance of subjects when the attentional demand condition was most compelling. The pattern of results obtained point to the special relevance of attentional processes and highlight their lack of emphasis in contemporary theoretical models of EMG biofeedback.

Trait absorption is related to enhanced emotional picture processing and reduced processing of secondary acoustic probes

“…Thus, absorption appears to be related to greater processing of emotional material, though at the cost of reduced processing of subsequent stimuli. These results add to the literature suggesting that absorption is related to greater automatic attentional deployment toward engaging stimuli but poorer voluntary control of attention to other stimuli (Qualls & Sheehan, 1981b). The effects of absorption in our study were consistent across genders, as was the broad pattern of findings for the effects of emotion on LPP and startle probe P3 amplitude.…”

Consciousness and Self-Regulation

“…Among these variables are individual difference factors: some subjects may be likely to engage in more extensive library searches or may possess "better" libraries-perhaps in terms of their verbal cross-references. In keeping with this view, we have found (Offutt & Lacroix, 1983) as have others (Qualls & Sheehan, 1981) that subjects who score high on the Absorption scale exhibit very good control of their internal responses without need for feedback training and indeed are not helped by biofeedback training, whereas low absorbers exhibit little control of the target internal response without feedback and improve with biofeedback training. Absorption is a trait which correlates with hypnotic susceptibility and reflects subjects' ability to tune out the world and draw on their own inner resources .…”

“…However, it also echoes suggestions made by a number of other biofeedback investigators. Thus, the emphasis that I will place on what are called here feedforward processes parallels a similar emphasis in .the recent work of Brener (1982), Qualls and Sheehan (1981) and Stilson, Matus, and Ball (1980). Moreover, the relatively large importance given to the task instructions owes much to Roberts's conceptual analysis of the environment in which biofeedback training takes place (Roberts & Marlin, 1979;Roberts et al, 1984), although my emphasis here is on how the task demands are represented in the subject's verbal system and on the verbally mediated associations thus generated.…”

Inner Navigation and Theta Activity: From Movement to Cognition and Hypnosis According to the Sphere Model of Consciousness

“…Inner Navigation and Theta Activity: From Movement to Cognition and Hypnosis… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92755 elaborate imagination [87][88][89]. Individuals scoring high on trait absorption will have a markedly different experiential profile compared to those scoring low on trait absorption [89,90], and these two groups will perform differently on tasks of attentional demand [91,92]. The overlap between high trait absorption and (1) high hypnotizability [23,93,94] and (2) proficiency in meditation [95] may indicate that the correlation between the two is either "significant only when both scales are administered in the same context, thus allowing the subjects to become aware that the experimenter expected to find an association between them" ( [96], pp.…”