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Effect of slide projections and tape-recorded suggestions on thermal biofeedback training

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Abstract

A previous experiment(Herzfeld & Taub, 1977) demonstrated that slide projections and explicit suggestions relating to thermal experiences can significantly augment temperature self-regulations training(.5° F,p<.05). However, the experimental design was thought to result in an underestimate of the magnitude of the effect, since each subject served as his own control and could therefore make use on nonsuggestion training days of material provided on training days. In this experiment, separate groups of subjects either were given feedback combined with the suggestion procedure on each of 8 training days or were given feedback alone. The mean temperature self-regulation of the suggestion group(2.01° F) was significantly better than the self-regulation(.73) of the nonsuggestion group(t test,p<.01).a difference of 1.28° F.

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This work was supported by NIH Grants No. HL21323 and FR5501RR05636. We thank Alfred Jakniunas for the design and construction of the temperature-recording apparatus and information display, Robert Heitmann for modification of the system to permit the introduction of suggestion, Dr. Solomon S. Steiner for his valuable comments, and Dr. Paul J. School for his critical reading of the manuscript.

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Herzfeld, G.M., Taub, E. Effect of slide projections and tape-recorded suggestions on thermal biofeedback training. Biofeedback and Self-Regulation 5, 393–405 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01001355

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