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FlexComp Infiniti in the physiological Assessment Room of Shue Yan is a portable biofeedback system. Biofeedback is an electronic instrumentation which monitors the physiology of the user’s body and displays it back to the user. So, as its name implies, it generals biological signal feedback. Using the biological feedback system, users would have a higher awareness of his/her physiological activities, such as the heartbeat, breath and the organ systems.
The clinical biofeedback training is becoming prevalent recently in America (Frank, Khorshid, Kiffer, Moravec, & McKee, 2010). With an increased awareness of people’s own physiology, people would be able to learn the right method to modify their own physiology, so as to improve their health physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Therefore, we can see that the information provided through the biofeedback device contributes not only in the realm of research but practical health-care usage.
Regarding the research purposes, it provides insights of an incredibly wide range. As the system is able to capture participants’ physiological responses, the correlation of those physiological responses and emotion or decision-making could be studied. Moreover, during the process of measuring biofeedback, different kinds of tasks could be done by the participants as well, so that the physiological change can also be observed during the participants is doing the designated tasks. For instance, we could measure one’s physiological change in the state of relaxation and during negotiation, in order to see the effects of the negotiation process would bring to one’s body. After knowing the effect, participants would have a higher level of awareness and control over their emotion during negotiation, which is believed that would improve the performance of negotiation.
The example above illustrates one of the possibilities that the biofeedback system may be able to bring. It exemplifies that not only would the system provide data for research purpose, but also training to the participants themselves. In fact, the application range of biofeedback system is wider than that – it could also be applied in psychology, clinical research, physical therapy, and primary care.