ArticlePsychophysiology2025
Using a virtual reality game to train biofeedback-based regulation under stress conditions.
Article in Psychophysiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The utilization of virtual reality in the training of de-escalation of aggression for both providers and users of public and healthcare services from the new millennium to the COVID-19 era: a systematic review.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Feasibility and Acceptability of Perioperative Application of Biofeedback-Based Virtual Reality vs Control for Pain and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Undergoing Surgery: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Examining the Effectiveness of Breathwork to Improve Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing While Reducing Anxiety, Depression, Stress, and Insomnia in Paramedicine Students: A Single-Blind Randomised Controlled Trial.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2026Trial
- Dawn of the dread: threatening cinematic virtual reality environments enhance general but not specific pavlovian-instrumental transfer.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- From facing fears to experimental frontiers: immersive cinematic virtual reality environments as a catalyst for innovation in behavioral neuroscience.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The A52 Breath Method: A Narrative Review of Breathwork for Mental Health and Stress Resilience.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Review
- Virtual reality-enhanced rehabilitation for improving musculoskeletal function and recovery after trauma.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Review
- Using a virtual reality game to train biofeedback-based regulation under stress conditions.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Physiological regulation strategies can be effective in reducing anxiety. However, while these strategies are often learned and practised under low-stress conditions, they are more likely to be required under conditions of high stress. We created virtual reality (VR) biofeedback games to both teach participants a breathing technique and then practise that technique under stress. We present two studies: the first provides a proof of concept, demonstrating that participants can apply the breathing technique during stress, with a significant lowering of both respiration rate and increase in heart rate variability (HRV) under stress (p < .001). The second study explicitly evaluated the effectiveness of training by comparing trained and untrained groups. Training was associated with a significantly greater HRV (p = .008) under stress. In within-group comparisons of HRV during stress compared to a baseline stressor presented before training, the trained group showed a significantly greater increase compared to untrained controls (p = .025). Our results show the feasibility and potential effectiveness of VR-based games for biofeedback training under experimentally applied stress. This may offer the opportunity for clinical techniques to more closely reflect the circumstances under which those techniques will be required.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.