Effects of a game program based on cardiac biofeedback techniques in cognitive development of children

Abstract

Background

The cardiac biofeedback is an electronic technique that aims to improve the individual's physiological and psychological well-being.

Objective

Study the chronic effects, on children's cognitive development, of a game program intervention based on the principle of self-regulation.

Method

Fifty-two children of both sex, with a mean age of 9.57 (± 0.80) composed the sample, randomized into experimental and control groups. The experimental group held an intervention with breathing pacer sessions and cardiac biofeedback sessions. The control group didn’t make any kind of breathing intervention. Heart rate variability and cognitive indeces were analyzed in both groups. Heart rate variability indices were obtained by lineal time and frequency domain, and nonlinear methods. The data was generated through the reports provided by Kubios® and software in MATLAB® format. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 software and Spearman correlation was used to assess the degree of association of variables, considering p ≤ 0.05.

Results

The experimental group had an increased of the parasympathetic activity at rest represented by a decrease in the heart rate (p < 0.008), increased the interval between R waves of the QRS complex (p < 0.008), increased the index derived directly from RR (p < 0.026), the number of adjacent intervals that vary by more than 50 ms (p < 0.038) and the cardio vagal index (p < 0.031). Besides the experimental group had better cognitive performance than the control group: greater accuracy (p < 0.012), stability (p < 0.012) and speed (p < 0.01).

Conclusion

The cardiac biofeedback technique brings effective results regarding autonomic regulation and cognitive development of children.