Type of conditioning in which reward or punishment is given to the subject, depending on the preceding behavior. Rewards increase the likelihood of the recurrence of the behavior and punishment discourages the behavior. Biofeedback uses operant conditioning to help patients reduce blood pressure, electrodermal activity, and other physiological processes. Since operant conditioning can be used to teach individuals to regulate their own autonomic responses, it is a method for teaching PDD countermeasures. The little research that has evaluated the influence of biofeedback training on PDD efficacy has not found an effect. See: Honts (1987).
