ECU’s Center for Applied Psychophysiology (CAP) prepares students from a variety of educational disciplines to become advanced practitioners and researchers in the areas of biofeedback, health games, and virtual reality. CAP provides training for biofeedback certification and develops mobile health technology products and services designed to measure and improve physiological, emotional, and cogni
tive performance. Therapists using biofeedback as a treatment tool can train people to alter brain activity, blood pressure, heart rate, and other body functions that are often thought to be involuntary. As an example, Recreational Therapists can use biofeedback to help tense and anxious clients learn how to relax. A monitoring device such as an ear clip or finger cuff is attached to the client, and it records changes in heart or breathing rate as the individual participates in a recreational activity, such as playing a video game. Initially, these monitoring devices are used to measure subtle body changes and make them apparent to the client, who begins to learn how to better control these responses. Eventually, the client attains better self-regulation without the aid of these devices.
