Anxiety symptoms are important contributors to the global health-related burden. Low-intensity interventions have been proposed to reduce anxiety symptoms in the population. Among these, biofeedback (BF) offers an effective approach to reducing anxiety. In the present study, BF was integrated into a novel virtual reality (VR) architecture to enhance BF's effectiveness to 1) evaluate the feasibility of a VR-based single-session BF in teaching participants to self-regulate; 2) compare the BF aiming at reducing sympathetic (measured though the tonic level of skin conductance, SCL) versus increasing cardiac vagal (i.e., normalized high frequency of heart rate variability, HFnu-HRV) activation, and 3) evaluate which of the two VR-BF single-sessions was most effective in reducing perceived state anxiety. 20 healthy participants underwent both SCL- and HFnu-based in a single session VR-BF. Results showed the feasibility of a short single-session VR-BF and the effectiveness of both VR-BF sessions in reducing perceived state anxiety. Moreover, SCL-based VR-BF determined a significant reduction in sympathetic activation and in sympathovagal balance as well as a greater reduction in perceived state anxiety compared to HFnu-based VR-BF. SCL-based VR-BF represents a safe and effective intervention in reducing anxiety while enhancing adaptive psychophysiological activation.

中文翻译：

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基于 VR 的新型生物反馈系统：心率变异性和皮电活动驱动方法之间的比较


焦虑症状是造成全球健康相关负担的重要因素。已提出低强度干预措施来减少人群的焦虑症状。其中，生物反馈（BF）提供了减少焦虑的有效方法。在本研究中，BF 被集成到一种新颖的虚拟现实 (VR) 架构中，以增强 BF 的有效性：1）评估基于 VR 的单会话 BF 在教导参与者自我调节方面的可行性； 2) 比较旨在减少交感神经（通过皮肤电导的强直水平，SCL 测量）与增加心脏迷走神经（即标准化高频心率变异性，HFnu-HRV）激活的 BF，以及 3) 评估两者中的哪一个VR-BF 单次治疗对于减少感知状态焦虑最有效。 20 名健康参与者在单次 VR-BF 中接受了基于 SCL 和 HFnu 的治疗。结果表明，短期单次 VR-BF 的可行性以及两次 VR-BF 会话在减少感知状态焦虑方面的有效性。此外，与基于 HFnu 的 VR-BF 相比，基于 SCL 的 VR-BF 显着减少了交感神经激活和交感迷走神经平衡，并且更大程度地减少了感知状态焦虑。基于 SCL 的 VR-BF 代表了一种安全有效的干预措施，可以减少焦虑，同时增强适应性心理生理激活。