Effects of feedback on the ability of asthmatic subjects to detect increases in the flow-resistive component to breathing.

Improved perception of increases in airflow resistance may have implications in asthma self-management. Two experiments that evaluated effects of feedback on the detection of flow-resistive loads are summarized. In the first experiment, detection ability of asthma patients who received feedback about the correctness of their responses in a signal-detection task was compared with that of asthma patients who did not receive feedback. Experiment 1 showed that subjects in the feedback condition detected the presence of flow-resistive loads more accurately than subjects in the no-feedback condition. In the second experiment, effects of feedback were compared between asthmatic and nonasthmatic subjects. Experiment 2 showed that effects of feedback training were equivalent in subjects with and without asthma.