REGULATION OF MENTAL STATES AND BIOFEEDBACK TECHNIQUES - EFFECTS ON BREATHING PATTERN

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether breathing patt ern may be used as a reliable index for the effectiveness of technique s applied for the regulation of mental states. Heart rate (HR), breath ing pattern, galvanic skin response (GSR), and electromyogram (EMG) of the frontalis muscle were measured in 39 male and female subjects age d 18-25 years during 10-minute treatment with relaxation technique (au togenic training and/or music) followed by 10 minutes of imagery train ing. In the first 7 sessions biofeedback (BFB) was not included, while during the last 6 sessions BFB was introduced and utilized by the sub jects. Relaxation (music or autogenic training) led to a decrease in b reathing frequency, attributed to lengthening of expiration time, as w ell as reduced HR, GSR, and frontalis EMG response. In most instances imagery training was related to an increase in these indices. Specific ally, significant tachypnea was observed during imagery of sprint runn ing. In most cases BFB substantially augmented the physiological respo nses. In conclusion, our data suggest that, compared with HR, GSR, and EMG responses, the breathing pattern is at least as sensitive to the mental techniques employed, and may be useful as a psychophysiological index for diagnosis and testing, especially in sport practice.