Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Feedback in a Stressed Population Exposed to a Brief Stressor Demonstrated by Quantitative EEG and sLORETA

Previous investigations of electroencephalograms during relaxation have identified increases in slow wave band power, correlations between increased levels of alpha activity with lower levels of anxiety, and autonomic changes characterized by otherwise documented decreased sympathetic activity. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback 2010-09, Vol.35 (3), p.219-228
Main Authors: Sherlin, Leslie, Muench, Fred, Wyckoff, Sarah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Anxiety
Arousal - physiology
Arrhythmia
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biofeedback
Biofeedback training
Biofeedback, Psychology
Blood pressure
Cardiac arrhythmia
Electroencephalography
Feedback
Female
Health Psychology
Heart rate
Humans
Male
Mediation
Meditation
Middle Aged
Naturopathy
Nervous system
Neuropsychological Tests
Physiological aspects
Psychology
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Public Health
Respiration
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
Sinuses
Stress
Stress, Psychological - therapy
Treatment Outcome
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Summary:Previous investigations of electroencephalograms during relaxation have identified increases in slow wave band power, correlations between increased levels of alpha activity with lower levels of anxiety, and autonomic changes characterized by otherwise documented decreased sympathetic activity. This study was carried out to determine the overall changes in quantitative electroencephalographic activity and the current source as a result of an acute session of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) biofeedback in a population of subjects experiencing stress. This study’s findings provide physiological evidence of RSA feedback effect and suggest that RSA training may decrease arousal by promoting an increase of alpha band frequencies and decrease in beta frequencies overall and in areas critical to the regulation of stress. It was of interest that novices could achieve these objective alterations in EEG activity after minimal training and intervention periods considering that the previous literature on EEG and meditative states involve experienced meditators or participants who had been given extensive training. Additionally, these effects were present immediately following the training suggesting that the intervention may have effects beyond the actual practice.
ISSN:1090-0586
1573-3270
DOI:10.1007/s10484-010-9132-z