Biofeedback games are an attractive alternative to standard techniques for learning short-term relaxation skills. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of three respiratory biofeedback games. To validate these games, we compared breathing rate across 100 male participants (23 years ± 3.2 years) playing biofeedback and audio pacing versions of these games as well as a paced breathing app. The games were placed between repeat runs of a cognitively stressful Stroop-based task and the impact of the games on breathing and cognitive performance in the task also assessed. Our results showed that 1) differences in gameplay did not impact player performance; 2) biofeedback not only led to better breath control during play but also during the subsequent cognitively stressful task; and 3) biofeedback led to better attentional-cognitive performance in the subsequent task. Our multi-game experiments show that using respiratory biofeedback in video games is an effective strategy to learn paced breathing—on par with the standalone technique of paced breathing—and to self-regulate stress levels in later stressful scenarios. Furthermore, owing to its entertainment value, our relaxation solution has the potential to be more engaging and accessible than standalone paced breathing, for use over longer durations.

中文翻译：

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消除压力：使用生物反馈游戏来学习有节奏的呼吸

生物反馈游戏是学习短期放松技巧的标准技术的一种有吸引力的替代方案。在本文中，我们介绍了三种呼吸生物反馈游戏的设计、实施和评估。为了验证这些游戏，我们比较了 100 名男性参与者（23 岁 ± 3.2 岁）玩这些游戏的生物反馈和音频节奏版本以及节奏呼吸应用程序的呼吸频率。游戏被放置在重复运行基于认知压力的 Stroop 任务之间，并且还评估了游戏对任务中呼吸和认知表现的影响。我们的结果表明：1）游戏玩法的差异不会影响玩家的表现；2）生物反馈不仅可以在游戏过程中更好地控制呼吸，而且可以在随后的认知压力任务中进行；3）生物反馈在随后的任务中导致更好的注意力-认知表现。我们的多游戏实验表明，在电子游戏中使用呼吸生物反馈是学习节奏呼吸的有效策略——与单独的节奏呼吸技术相当——并在以后的压力情景中自我调节压力水平。此外，由于其娱乐价值，我们的放松解决方案有可能比独立的有节奏的呼吸更具吸引力和可访问性，可以长时间使用。