Editing Biofeedback (section)

==Information coded biofeedback==
'''Information coded biofeedback''' is an evolving form and methodology in the field of biofeedback.  Its uses may be applied in the areas of health, wellness and awareness.  Biofeedback has its modern conventional roots in the early 1970s.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Barbara B | name-list-style = vanc |title=New mind, new body: Bio-feedback; new directions for the mind|url=https://archive.org/details/newmindnewbody00barb|url-access=registration|date=January 1, 1975|publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=9780553128741 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Karlins|first1=Marvins | name-list-style = vanc |title=Biofeedback|date=January 1, 1973|publisher=Warner Paperback Library |isbn=978-0446760188}}</ref>

Over the years, biofeedback as a discipline and a technology has continued to mature and express new versions of the method with novel interpretations in areas utilizing the [[Electromyography|electromyograph]], electrodermograph, [[electroencephalograph]] and [[electrocardiogram]] among others.
The concept of biofeedback is based on the fact that a wide variety of ongoing intrinsic natural functions of the organism occur at a level of awareness generally called the "unconscious".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>  The biofeedback process is designed to interface with select aspects of these "unconscious" processes.

The definition reads:
Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately feed back information to the user. The presentation of this information—often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior—supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument.<ref name="AAPB" />

A more simple definition could be:
Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiological functions primarily using instruments that provide information on the activity of those same systems, with a goal of being able to manipulate them at will.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durand |first1=Vincent Mark|last2=Barlow |first2= David| name-list-style = vanc |title=Abnormal psychology: an integrative approach|date=2009|location=Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-09556-9|page=331}}</ref> (Emphasis{{Which|date=January 2023}} added by author.)

In both of these definitions, a cardinal feature of the concept is the association of the "will" with the result of a new cognitive "learning" skill.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Barbara B | name-list-style = vanc |title=Biological Awareness as a State of Consciousness|journal=Journal of Altered States of Consciousness|date=1975|volume=2|issue=1–14}}</ref> Some examine this concept and do not necessarily ascribe it simply to a willful acquisition of a new learned skill but also extend the dynamics into the realms of a behavioristic conditioning.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dupuis|first1=Garnet| name-list-style = vanc |title=The Unconscious and Its Role in Biofeedback Processes|journal=Center of International Studies|date=November 29, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Sherlin LH, Arns M, Lubar J, Heinrich H, Kerson C, Strehl U, Sterman MB | title = Neurofeedback and Basic Learning Theory: Implications for Research and Practice. | journal = Journal of Neurotherapy | date = October 2011 | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 292–304 | doi = 10.1080/10874208.2011.623089 | doi-access = free }}</ref>  Behaviorism contends that it is possible to change the actions and functions of an organism by exposing it to a number of conditions or influences.  Key to the concept is not only that the functions are unconscious but that conditioning processes themselves may be unconscious to the organism.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Skinner BF |title=About Behaviorism|date=1974|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=978-0-394-71618-3}}</ref>  Information coded biofeedback relies primarily on the behavior conditioning aspect of biofeedback in promoting significant changes in the functioning of the organism.

The principle of information is both complex and, in part, controversial. The term itself is derived from the Latin verb {{Lang|la|informare}} which means literally 'to bring into form or shape'.  The meaning of ''information'' is largely affected by the context of usage.  Probably the simplest and perhaps most insightful definition of ''information'' was given by Gregory Bateson—"Information is news of change" or another as "the difference that makes a difference".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bateson|first1=Gregory| name-list-style = vanc |title=Form, Substance, and Difference, in Steps to an Ecology of Mind|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=1972}}</ref>   Information may also be thought of as "any type of pattern that influences the formation or transformation of other patterns".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Claude|first1=Shannon| name-list-style = vanc |title=The Mathematical Theory of Communication|date=1949|bibcode=1949mtc..book.....S }}</ref>  Recognizing the inherent [[complexity]] of an organism, information coded biofeedback applies algorithmic calculations in a [[stochastic]] approach to identify significant probabilities in a limited set of possibilities.