- Email: [email protected]
Biofeedback and sports science
Book
reoiews
317
see how it could be. The possibility of some cohesion was present by focussing on human amnesia and (primate) animal studies which were directly aimed at elucidating the mechanisms which had to be intact to allow normal memory performance, and by carefully tailoring the contributions to consider the critical issues, e.g. species differences, skill differences, task demands and similarities, but this was not attempted. The editors chose instead to present a wide range of studies which focussed on varied aspects of learning and memory; they chose to sample widely across species and by limiting the size of most contributions, allowed only brief summary statements of current positions in widely disparate areas. There were no detailed commentaries which chose to address how the difficulties of ‘organising these various contributions into a cohesive system might be approached. Perhaps it is the case, as Thomas suggests in his chapter on ‘Memory, time-binding in organisms’ that it would be very difficult if not impossible to elucidate basic neural mechanisms of memory with humans. He hints that memory capabilities in humans, with language and cultural modifications, may be species unique and that the most general formulation will derive from the study of evolutionarily simpler, culture-free non-linguistic brains. Although one may doubt his claim that the most ‘general’ formulation will derive from the study of simple organisms, the issues which he raised deserved to be fully considered in a book with these pretensions. They were not and it weakens its contribution. It is difficult to describe the appropriate audience for this book. A university library should certainly have one, but it is difficult to see that the range of topics covered would make it of interest to individual researchers, and the brevity and assumptions of knowledge in the chapters would make it a difficult book for undergraduates. Two or three smaller more focussed productions might have been a more appropriate format to consider the major topics included in this book. W.A. Matthews University of Southampton
J.H. SANDWEISS and S.L. WOLF (Eds.), (Plenum Press, New York) pp. xviii+201.
Biofeedback
and Sports Science.
What is biofeedback? If the reader didn’t already know have to wait until chapter 6 before meeting the statement generally refers to the use of instrumentation to monitor siological process so that it becomes overt’ (Wolf, p. 160). I of definition not because I like definition per se but because,
he/she would ‘Biofeedback a covert phyraise this issue in reading the
318
Book reoiews
book, it might not always be clear to the reader where biofeedback begins and other forms of feedback (knowledge of results, for example) end. In fact, Ariel’s chapter on biofeedback in athletic training contains little of direct relevance to the discipline of biofeedback if we adopt the above, general definition! As with most edited texts, this book suffers from rather wide variability in the structure and quality of the arguments presented by the contributors. This will be better appreciated by conducting a chapter-by-chapter review. Sandweiss’ opener (‘Biofeedback and sports science’) attempts to provide an overview of relevant methodological considerations. A major concern of this reviewer is not with the quality of the information but for whom it was written. A novice will not come away with a good feel for the topic since too many concepts are poorly defined. The knowledgeable sports scientist will have heard it all before, but in superior terms. Perhaps the most disappointing feature is the lack of concrete examples of applications to ‘real’ athletes. Too many of the examples are vague and clinically oriented. The contribution on ‘Physiological perception’ by Sime provides some intriguing ideas on how perception of physical exertion might be enhanced and peak performance facilitated. However, the chapter is little more than a catalogue. Sime leaves the reader unclear as to how these ideas can be translated into practical training programs. In addition, Sime proposes biofeedback as the teaching mechanism in a rather biased and uncritical fashion. Biofeedback is not yet such a clear-cut and successful paradigm that the professional or lay reader are able to automatically relate an idea to a standard methodology. While the paradigm developed by Landers (‘Psychophysiological assessment and biofeedback’) to study the psychophysiological reactions of individual athletes in closed skill sports is basically very sound and his research methods rigorous, his presentation is rather redundant because the same material is already available in various other publications. Landers provides few extensions to his analyses of data which are now getting ‘long in the tooth’. The material is worthy of a rigorous experimenter but very limited in its appeal to the applied psychologist who is working with athletes in closed skill sports. Landers gives many hints about how individual shooters have benefitted from the application of biofeedback on a shot by shot basis but fails to provide more than anecdotal reference to the details of such a training program. How many biofeedback sessions? How often? When can they be tapered? What are the long term implications? None of these questions is addressed in any detail. Surely, after several years study, details of these parameters of biofeedback training should be available? Ariel (‘Biofeedback and biomechanics’) provides an interesting discussion on biomechanical contributions to sport but hardly anything on the book’s central topic, Biofeedback. The example of the ‘intelligent exercise
Book reviews
319
machine’ in the final pages of this chapter is not biofeedback. More biofeedback and more potential applications are needed here. Wolf’s presentation on rehabilitation suggests many techniques which would seem to be in the realm of biomechanics, e.g. giving a tennis player biofeedback of the position of his arms during his optimum serve or volley. While Ariel’s chapter was disappointing mainly because it strayed too far from the theme, the short ‘essay’ by Gans (‘Biofeedback and sports medicine’) was positively disturbing -for two reasons. First, the author assumes that biofeedback is a treatment that has unequivocally been shown to be effective, and to be more effective than techniques such as progressive relaxation for anxiety control. Yet, Beatty in a review of the accomplishments of biofeedback studies concluded, ‘Both the experimental and clinical results summarized above provide a disappointing realization of a field once bright with promise, (Beatty, J. (1983). Biofeedback in theory and practice. In A. Gale & J.A. Edwards (Eds.), Physiological Correlates of Human Behavior. Volume 3: Individual Differences and Psychopathology. London: Academic Press, p. 245). Second, biofeedback is not a universal and automatic panacea for all challenges to the sport scientist. The fact that this author chooses not to cite any supporting evidence further undermines his arguments. While some of his suggestions might have validity this chapter must be approached with healthy skepticism by all readers, particularly the lay reader. Fortunately, quality is restored with Wolf’s chapter (‘Biofeedback applications in rehabilitation medicine’). This is a very useful contribution both in terms of pointing to the issues and the methods for dealing with real problems. However, the chapter tends to be repetitive in its cataloging of the methodology without the addition of data and critical evaluation of the techniques suggested. Indeed this is a major criticism of the book. The authors all seem to hold the opinion that biofeedback is a useful tool yet do not present data which support this assumption. There is little discussion of why biofeedback is an attractive option and, more seriously, even less discussion of good comparative studies which have satisfactorily demonstrated the efficacy of biofeedback. The fact that the book as a whole pushes to the limit the definition of what constitutes biofeedback also adds to the confusion. The book concludes with a postscript by W.A. Greene in which he pursues a number of interesting speculations and leaves the reader with a number of intriguing questions. While these certainly require an answer there are many more immediate questions to be answered regarding the efficacy of biofeedback. Until this issue is resolved with greater certainty then the grand ideas will have to remain speculative. The editors of this volume might have made a much larger contribution to the literature - both basic and applied - if they had recognised the need for more justification of
320
Book reoiews
the techniques rather than allowing a rather uncritical acceptance of the assumption that biofeedback is the best tool for all the challenges facing the sport scientist. Finally, who is this book intended to serve? If it is the applied psychologist then the quality and sophistication of some of the contributions are such that he/she will have read it all before. If it is the coach, then I’m afraid many coaches will be disappointed due to the relative lack of detailed advice on practical applications. In addition, many of the chapters require a base of knowledge that most coaches cannot be expected to have. While a book on biofeedback and sports science is certainly needed, the present text might have made a more valuable contribution if it provided a more solid, data-oriented foundation on which to base the many speculations of the contributors. John A. Edwards Carleton University,
R. PLUTCHIK and H. KELLERMAN (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, Research, and Experience. Volume 3: Biological Foundations of Emotion. (Academic Press, New York, 1986) pp. xxiv +423, f40.50, f25.00 (paperback). Emotion is a multiglobal concept which, although apparently having validity for everyday discourse, can become ephemeral when examined in the laboratory. If you wish to study emotion in its fully glory it is to Homo sapiens that you must turn; no other animal comes within ‘light-years’ of the range and intensity of human emotions. This volume is a collection of chapters relating to the biological roots of emotion and aggression. Compared with the titles of most books on emotion that now appear in booksellers’ catalogues, this volume has a dated air about it. The book turns out to be more than merely a retrospective account; it begins to deal with some of the important bridging concepts which are clearly needed to form an adequate understanding of emotion. The problem of emotion and cognition is confronted but one gains the impression that most of the authors still implicitly consider them as separate functional processes. Names heading the chapters are mostly familiar, with a modicum of new ones to leaven the mix. It is pleasing to report chapters on neurochemistry; at long last the brain is being seen as more than a vast array of nerve cells busily chatting to each other in electrical impulses. The preface states that this is the third volume in a series. The first dealt with the theories of emotion and the second with emotions in early development. Tantalisingly, we are not informed of subsequent titles or, indeed, if there are to be any
reoiews
317
see how it could be. The possibility of some cohesion was present by focussing on human amnesia and (primate) animal studies which were directly aimed at elucidating the mechanisms which had to be intact to allow normal memory performance, and by carefully tailoring the contributions to consider the critical issues, e.g. species differences, skill differences, task demands and similarities, but this was not attempted. The editors chose instead to present a wide range of studies which focussed on varied aspects of learning and memory; they chose to sample widely across species and by limiting the size of most contributions, allowed only brief summary statements of current positions in widely disparate areas. There were no detailed commentaries which chose to address how the difficulties of ‘organising these various contributions into a cohesive system might be approached. Perhaps it is the case, as Thomas suggests in his chapter on ‘Memory, time-binding in organisms’ that it would be very difficult if not impossible to elucidate basic neural mechanisms of memory with humans. He hints that memory capabilities in humans, with language and cultural modifications, may be species unique and that the most general formulation will derive from the study of evolutionarily simpler, culture-free non-linguistic brains. Although one may doubt his claim that the most ‘general’ formulation will derive from the study of simple organisms, the issues which he raised deserved to be fully considered in a book with these pretensions. They were not and it weakens its contribution. It is difficult to describe the appropriate audience for this book. A university library should certainly have one, but it is difficult to see that the range of topics covered would make it of interest to individual researchers, and the brevity and assumptions of knowledge in the chapters would make it a difficult book for undergraduates. Two or three smaller more focussed productions might have been a more appropriate format to consider the major topics included in this book. W.A. Matthews University of Southampton
J.H. SANDWEISS and S.L. WOLF (Eds.), (Plenum Press, New York) pp. xviii+201.
Biofeedback
and Sports Science.
What is biofeedback? If the reader didn’t already know have to wait until chapter 6 before meeting the statement generally refers to the use of instrumentation to monitor siological process so that it becomes overt’ (Wolf, p. 160). I of definition not because I like definition per se but because,
he/she would ‘Biofeedback a covert phyraise this issue in reading the
318
Book reoiews
book, it might not always be clear to the reader where biofeedback begins and other forms of feedback (knowledge of results, for example) end. In fact, Ariel’s chapter on biofeedback in athletic training contains little of direct relevance to the discipline of biofeedback if we adopt the above, general definition! As with most edited texts, this book suffers from rather wide variability in the structure and quality of the arguments presented by the contributors. This will be better appreciated by conducting a chapter-by-chapter review. Sandweiss’ opener (‘Biofeedback and sports science’) attempts to provide an overview of relevant methodological considerations. A major concern of this reviewer is not with the quality of the information but for whom it was written. A novice will not come away with a good feel for the topic since too many concepts are poorly defined. The knowledgeable sports scientist will have heard it all before, but in superior terms. Perhaps the most disappointing feature is the lack of concrete examples of applications to ‘real’ athletes. Too many of the examples are vague and clinically oriented. The contribution on ‘Physiological perception’ by Sime provides some intriguing ideas on how perception of physical exertion might be enhanced and peak performance facilitated. However, the chapter is little more than a catalogue. Sime leaves the reader unclear as to how these ideas can be translated into practical training programs. In addition, Sime proposes biofeedback as the teaching mechanism in a rather biased and uncritical fashion. Biofeedback is not yet such a clear-cut and successful paradigm that the professional or lay reader are able to automatically relate an idea to a standard methodology. While the paradigm developed by Landers (‘Psychophysiological assessment and biofeedback’) to study the psychophysiological reactions of individual athletes in closed skill sports is basically very sound and his research methods rigorous, his presentation is rather redundant because the same material is already available in various other publications. Landers provides few extensions to his analyses of data which are now getting ‘long in the tooth’. The material is worthy of a rigorous experimenter but very limited in its appeal to the applied psychologist who is working with athletes in closed skill sports. Landers gives many hints about how individual shooters have benefitted from the application of biofeedback on a shot by shot basis but fails to provide more than anecdotal reference to the details of such a training program. How many biofeedback sessions? How often? When can they be tapered? What are the long term implications? None of these questions is addressed in any detail. Surely, after several years study, details of these parameters of biofeedback training should be available? Ariel (‘Biofeedback and biomechanics’) provides an interesting discussion on biomechanical contributions to sport but hardly anything on the book’s central topic, Biofeedback. The example of the ‘intelligent exercise
Book reviews
319
machine’ in the final pages of this chapter is not biofeedback. More biofeedback and more potential applications are needed here. Wolf’s presentation on rehabilitation suggests many techniques which would seem to be in the realm of biomechanics, e.g. giving a tennis player biofeedback of the position of his arms during his optimum serve or volley. While Ariel’s chapter was disappointing mainly because it strayed too far from the theme, the short ‘essay’ by Gans (‘Biofeedback and sports medicine’) was positively disturbing -for two reasons. First, the author assumes that biofeedback is a treatment that has unequivocally been shown to be effective, and to be more effective than techniques such as progressive relaxation for anxiety control. Yet, Beatty in a review of the accomplishments of biofeedback studies concluded, ‘Both the experimental and clinical results summarized above provide a disappointing realization of a field once bright with promise, (Beatty, J. (1983). Biofeedback in theory and practice. In A. Gale & J.A. Edwards (Eds.), Physiological Correlates of Human Behavior. Volume 3: Individual Differences and Psychopathology. London: Academic Press, p. 245). Second, biofeedback is not a universal and automatic panacea for all challenges to the sport scientist. The fact that this author chooses not to cite any supporting evidence further undermines his arguments. While some of his suggestions might have validity this chapter must be approached with healthy skepticism by all readers, particularly the lay reader. Fortunately, quality is restored with Wolf’s chapter (‘Biofeedback applications in rehabilitation medicine’). This is a very useful contribution both in terms of pointing to the issues and the methods for dealing with real problems. However, the chapter tends to be repetitive in its cataloging of the methodology without the addition of data and critical evaluation of the techniques suggested. Indeed this is a major criticism of the book. The authors all seem to hold the opinion that biofeedback is a useful tool yet do not present data which support this assumption. There is little discussion of why biofeedback is an attractive option and, more seriously, even less discussion of good comparative studies which have satisfactorily demonstrated the efficacy of biofeedback. The fact that the book as a whole pushes to the limit the definition of what constitutes biofeedback also adds to the confusion. The book concludes with a postscript by W.A. Greene in which he pursues a number of interesting speculations and leaves the reader with a number of intriguing questions. While these certainly require an answer there are many more immediate questions to be answered regarding the efficacy of biofeedback. Until this issue is resolved with greater certainty then the grand ideas will have to remain speculative. The editors of this volume might have made a much larger contribution to the literature - both basic and applied - if they had recognised the need for more justification of
320
Book reoiews
the techniques rather than allowing a rather uncritical acceptance of the assumption that biofeedback is the best tool for all the challenges facing the sport scientist. Finally, who is this book intended to serve? If it is the applied psychologist then the quality and sophistication of some of the contributions are such that he/she will have read it all before. If it is the coach, then I’m afraid many coaches will be disappointed due to the relative lack of detailed advice on practical applications. In addition, many of the chapters require a base of knowledge that most coaches cannot be expected to have. While a book on biofeedback and sports science is certainly needed, the present text might have made a more valuable contribution if it provided a more solid, data-oriented foundation on which to base the many speculations of the contributors. John A. Edwards Carleton University,
R. PLUTCHIK and H. KELLERMAN (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, Research, and Experience. Volume 3: Biological Foundations of Emotion. (Academic Press, New York, 1986) pp. xxiv +423, f40.50, f25.00 (paperback). Emotion is a multiglobal concept which, although apparently having validity for everyday discourse, can become ephemeral when examined in the laboratory. If you wish to study emotion in its fully glory it is to Homo sapiens that you must turn; no other animal comes within ‘light-years’ of the range and intensity of human emotions. This volume is a collection of chapters relating to the biological roots of emotion and aggression. Compared with the titles of most books on emotion that now appear in booksellers’ catalogues, this volume has a dated air about it. The book turns out to be more than merely a retrospective account; it begins to deal with some of the important bridging concepts which are clearly needed to form an adequate understanding of emotion. The problem of emotion and cognition is confronted but one gains the impression that most of the authors still implicitly consider them as separate functional processes. Names heading the chapters are mostly familiar, with a modicum of new ones to leaven the mix. It is pleasing to report chapters on neurochemistry; at long last the brain is being seen as more than a vast array of nerve cells busily chatting to each other in electrical impulses. The preface states that this is the third volume in a series. The first dealt with the theories of emotion and the second with emotions in early development. Tantalisingly, we are not informed of subsequent titles or, indeed, if there are to be any