Can biofeedback games reduce students test anxiety?
Call it the latest version of biofeedback. Decades ago, scientists thought that people could be trained to alter their blood pressure or even sweaty palms. Today, the Institute of HeartMath, a nonprofit research group, has come up with the breathing and visualization techniques that sound a little like yoga or meditation. The difference is that while a student—or teacher or principal, for that matter—focuses on breathing slowly and generating a feeling of appreciation, a sensor connected to their finger or earlobe displays real-time feedback of their stress level on a PC monitor. Software converts a measure of heart rate variability—the amount of time in between beats, which reflects interactions between the heart and brain—and presents it on a computer screen in the format of a game, in which to win a student must maintain a steady level of relaxation. The training exercise usually lasts five to seven minutes, and students can use it at a PC in the back of a classroom or in a lab. Alv
