A learning model of autonomic function
in biofeedback
Chiaki Nishimura a,⁎, Li-Qun Wang b, Aki Nagase a,
Kazuko Terada a, Yoshifumi Miyamoto c,
Hisayuki Tsukuma a, Masuo Muro a
a Toho University School of Medicine, Japan
b Research Center for Advanced Technologies, Tokyo Denki University, Japan
c Department of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka Sangyo University, Japan
Abstract. Biofeedback is an acquisition technique of self-regulation ability of an autonomic
function, of which we are normally unaware, through a series of training aided by an additional outer
feedback pathway. We proposed a mathematical model of biofeedback in which a learning system on
the conscious level learns characteristics of a subconscious regulation system corresponding to the
biological function. When the learning converges, the learning system itself becomes an inverse
system of the regulation system. Then, if a regulation command is put to the learning system on the
conscious level, it drives the regulation system strictly following the command without the outer
feedback pathway, which enables voluntary control of the biological function. © 2007 Elsevier B.V.
All rights reserved.
Keywords: Biofeedback; Learning; Mathematical model; Autonomic function; Self-regulation

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