Tag: Biopac Student Lab

Hands-on Learning: How Real‑Time Physiological Data Deepens Clinical Education

Physicist Albert Einstein noted, “The only source of knowledge is experience.” This principle is particularly relevant in healthcare education, where hands-on learning is vital for cultivating the skills needed to care for patients effectively. The practice of recording and analyzing physiological signals in the learning lab serves as a powerful teaching tool, enabling students to immerse themselves in real-world scenarios and reveal autonomic responses, cardiovascular patterns, and emotional states that are often hidden from view.

For students in nursing, dentistry, and pharmacology, engaging with these signals transforms abstract concepts into concrete, measurable experiences. By analyzing heart activity, visual attention, stress markers, and pharmacodynamic effects, students not only enhance their critical thinking skills but also prepare themselves for clinical challenges with greater confidence.

Physiological signals across the health sciences teach learners to interpret subtle features embedded in physiological waveforms. Modern teaching laboratories increasingly incorporate multimodal systems to help students better understand the complexity of human physiology.

Nursing programs emphasize accurate patient monitoring and interpretation of vital signs, including electrocardiograms (ECG) and heartrate variability (HRV). A 2025 study published in Sensors evaluated the validity of Apple Watch Series 6 HRV data against laboratory‑grade ECG recordings using a BIOPAC 3‑lead ECG system to provide a comparative baseline for measurement. By synchronizing event markers between the Apple Watch and BIOPAC timeline, researchers ensured precise temporal alignment for comparing R‑R intervals and HRV indices. The results showed near-perfect agreement in R-R interval timing under resting conditions, indicating that such wearable devices can serve as a reasonable tool for certain wellness-oriented assessments. At the same time, the BIOPAC system remains the gold standard for precise physiological analysis.

For nursing students, this study demonstrated that consumer wearables must be validated against clinical-grade systems before being relied upon for assessment or decision-making. By examining the comparative data, students can explore how artifacts, sampling frequencies, and sensor placement influence the fidelity of HRV measurements. Moreover, because HRV relates directly to autonomic balance and stress physiology, the study provides a meaningful touchpoint for nursing courses in pathophysiology and patient assessment. Through hands‑on lab sessions using BIOPAC ECG amplifiers, students can visualize waveform morphology, measure beat‑to‑beat variability, and learn how cardiovascular signals reflect underlying homeostatic regulation.

Dental students should understand not only the mechanics of clinical procedures but also the emotional and perceptual experiences of their patients, especially children. A 2025 cross-sectional pilot study in the European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry used an eye tracking and  data acquisition and analysis system from BIOPAC to measure children’s gaze behavior and physiological stress when viewing images of dentists, dental chairs, and operatory designs.

Using eye-tracking metrics such as mean dwell time, fixation count, time to first fixation, and total fixation time, researchers found that study participants stared longer at dentists wearing white coats, indicating a perception of compitance and safety, but also indimidation. In addition, gender matching mattered, as children showed longer fixation on dentists of the same gender. The study also found that warm‑colored dental chairs (especially yellow) attracted greater visual attention, particularly among younger children. Simultaneously, HRV and ECG signals recorded with the BIOPAC system revealed that younger children exhibited greater autonomic arousal than older peers when exposed to dental images.

These findings offer dental students actionable insights into clinic design, caregiver attire, and emotional perception, all of which influence pediatric patient comfort. The study demonstrates how combining eye tracking with physiological monitoring can reveal otherwise hidden psychological responses. For dental educators, integrating such physiological signal analysis into coursework helps students develop empathetic, patient‑centered care strategies.

colored pillsIn pharmacology courses, students learn how drugs influence physiological systems. A study published in Brain Sciences investigated the lingering cardiovascular effects of caffeine, challenging the assumption that its effects dissipate within six hours. Using BIOPAC respiratory transducers, noninvasive blood pressure modules, bioimpedance amplifiers, and ECG amplifiers connected to a data acquisition and analysis system researchers monitored participants before and after consumption of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee. Results showed measurable changes in heart rate, respiratory patterns, and thoracic impedance well beyond the expected metabolic window, suggesting caffeine’s physiological effects outlast its pharmacokinetic half‑life.

For pharmacy students, these findings reinforce critical distinctions between pharmacokinetics (drug metabolism) and pharmacodynamics (physiological response). By analyzing real‑world signal data, learners gain a more nuanced understanding of how stimulants affect autonomic regulation. Such insights prepare future pharmacists to counsel patients on medication timing, drug interactions, and individual responses to common agents such as caffeine.

Across nursing, dentistry, and pharmacy, physiological signals provide potent educational value. They bridge the gap between theory and clinical application by giving students concrete, measurable access to physiological processes such as autonomic reactivity, cardiovascular regulation, and perceptual attention. Using both research and education-based lab systems, learners can visualize real-time physiological data, develop analytical skills, and cultivate a deeper understanding of the human body under stress, stimulation, and clinical observation.

As healthcare grows more data‑driven, integrating hands-on experience with signal acquisition into professional training helps future clinicians interpret complex physiological information with confidence. Whether validating wearable devices, improving pediatric patient experiences, or exploring drug‑induced autonomic effects, physiological signals empower students to connect scientific principles with evidence‑based, care. Check out our webinar, Advancing Practical Learning: Biosignal Essentials, to learn more.

If you’re exploring ways to incorporate physiological signals into your curriculum or simulation lab, our team is ready to help identify the best tools and workflows for your program.

Faster, Stronger, Further—Unlocking the Body’s Potential with Exercise Physiology

Every athlete seeks the winning formula that will make them more competitive. Add coaches, trainers, weekend warriors, and everyday health enthusiasts to the mix, all looking for an edge to improve fitness, shorten recovery times, and avoid injuries. Exercise physiology plays a key role in gaining such advantages and insights.

Exercise physiology encompasses the scientific study of how the body responds and adapts to exercise and physical activity. It covers a wide spectrum of systems including the cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal as well as metabolic function and overall performance. Today’s exercise physiologists benefit from a range of tools and techniques to measure, collect, and analyze such responses and acquire a better understanding of the ways in which exercise affects both humans and other animals, including solutions that integrate the latest virtual reality and eye tracking technology.

This type of research is not without its challenges. Study participants are often required to be physically active during data acquisition. The tools employed in such instances must allow participants to move freely without introducing signal artifacts or noise into the data. A 2021 study into the physiological progression of fatigue shows how researchers can resolve such problems by employing wireless devices such as BIOPAC mobile EMG amplifiers, used in this case to measure strain to the biceps and triceps during exercise. Researchers successfully gathered a range of EMG data with no negative effects from the physical exertion of the study participants.heavy lifting

Exercise physiology research has also been applied to the treatment and management of exercise- and sports-related injuries, both acute and chronic. Additionally, studies have investigated the connection between physical activity and pathology, revealing new ways to prevent or reduce the progress of certain diseases.

A 2020 study by researchers at the University of Udine examined the effects of both exercise alone and exercise combined with a high-protein diet on patients with late-onset Pompe disease, a neuromuscular disorder that degrades a person’s tolerance to physical activity. The study explored which routine had the greatest impact, if any, on a patient’s exercise tolerance, muscle and pulmonary functions, and quality of life. A BIOPAC isometric dynamometer measured muscle force generated by the right leg and arm during flex and extension tests. Data gathered with a BIOPAC data acquisition and analysis system running AcqKnowledge software demonstrated that the combination of exercise and a high-protein diet did improve exercise tolerance, muscle enzymes, pulmonary function, and quality of life for the patients.

Exercise physiology research also sheds light on the ways in which exercise impacts mental and physical wellness. A study published at the Ho Chi Minh University of Technology used heart rate variability (HRV) to evaluate the influence of stress, both physical and mental, on the performance of stationary bike trainees. During the experiment, electrocardiogram (ECG) signal data was gathered from participants using an MP36 data acquisition unit running Biopac Student Lab (BSL) software over a two-month exercise regimen. Based on the results of the study, researchers concluded that HRV provided a useful window into how stress impacts performance and that HRV data could be used as a management tool to monitor stress levels during training.

The techniques and tools available to today’s exercise physiology researchers are as diverse and varied as the areas in which they are being employed, from athletic performance monitoring and enhancement to wellness studies. For more information on how such tools can benefit your exercise physiology research, watch BIOPAC’s webinar on Recording Great Data from Exercising and Mobile Subjects.

Our regional BIOPAC sales reps are ready to help you find the right tools to design your next exercise physiology study. Contact them today to learn more.

Human Factors: Physiological Signals Enhance Ergonomics Research

Ergonomics plays a role in almost every aspect of human interaction with the world around us—how we work, entertain ourselves, rest, and relax. Simply put, ergonomics (sometimes termed “human factors and ergonomics” or simply “human factors”) refers to the way in which physiological and psychological principles are applied to design, particularly in ways that benefit a user’s physical and psychological well-being and productivity.

In practice, ergonomics addresses more than our physical interactions but also encompasses our mental, emotional, and interpersonal states. What unites these different applications of ergonomic theory is that they can be studied and better understood with many of the same tools and signals applied in other areas of physiological and psychophysiological research. These can include ECG, EOG, fNIRS, EEG, and EMG, to name just a few.

Ergonomics can be broken down into three primary domains. Physical ergonomics relates to how the body interacts with the physical environment, from the design of tools we use every day to the physical environments in which we live and work. Cognitive ergonomics focuses on how our mental abilities are influenced by the systems and tasks with which we are presented. Organizational ergonomics (also known as macroergonomics) explores how to optimize organizational structures, policies, and processes within various social settings, including work environments.

Eye TrackingOne example of how physiological signals are being applied in physical ergonomics research involves the application of electrooculogram (EOG) signals to analyze eye movements, particularly saccades, as a measurement of eye fatigue caused by exposure to digital screens. The ubiquity of such screens in both our work and recreational environments makes such research critical to maintaining user well-being and productivity. This 2018 study utilized EOG electrodes connected via SS2LB leads to an MP36 data acquisition unit running BSL software to record and analyze EOG signals. Researchers were able to determine the optimal reading and viewing distance to minimize eye fatigue and discomfort, improving user health and productivity.

Cognitive ergonomics come into play when discussing the ease-of-use for a product. This is particularly important when dealing with how less technologically savvy groups interact with new technology, a challenge is explored in a 2019 study into how to develop a home heart monitor that would be easy for older users to operate. The study compared user interaction with device hardware, a mobile app, and a cloud-based software platform while using a BIOPAC research-level system as a control. Researchers created the signal baseline with an ECG amplifier connected to a data acquisition and analysis unit, comparing these results to the quality of the signal the user was able to obtain using the self-administered home devices and applications. This approach accurately assesses both the user-friendliness and quality of data obtained by several telemedicine systems.

These examples offer just a small sample of the ways in which physiological signals are being applied in the study of ergonomics. For an in-depth exploration of the topic, watch our webinar series on Ergonomics and Fatigue.

To learn more about using BIOPAC hardware and software to enhance your ergonomics study or design research, contact your local sales representative.

Biopac Student Lab | What I Learned This Summer

A Student’s Perspective

Guest post by Ashley F.

Like many of my university peers, I wrapped up my freshman year of college working a summer internship in hopes of gaining valuable professional experience. Rather than relaxing on the beach, I occupied my time between June and August with electronic breadboards and ice bucket plunges. All this took place at BIOPAC where I was tasked with reviewing the BSL PRO Lessons, helping the company continue to refine and improve these teaching aids.

Let me start by confessing that I am not a physiology or anatomy major, but rather a development and psychology major. Given this difference, I did not expect to find that so many of the BSL PRO Lessons connect to what I am studying. BSL PRO Lessons stand out compared to your average textbook for multiple reasons. For me, the primary difference is that with BSL PRO Lessons, you get to watch the data take shape in real-time. And it’s not just random data, but data from your own body—your heart beating, your finger twitching, your eyes tracking a pendulum. Because the data is from you and not a textbook, the lessons are more interesting to analyze.

Throughout the summer, I worked through each “human” BSL Lesson, gaining experience with the software, equipment, and workspace. Each lesson includes a ‘background’ section that provides context to the lesson and connects each one to different concepts. This context makes the data from each lesson relevant to more disciplinary studies than just physiology and anatomy, which in turn broadens the student’s knowledge. Because BIOPAC wanted to test the materials under realistic student lab conditions, I wasn’t given much guidance on how to approach individual lessons. Rather, I would simply read the manual and follow the instructions, which turned out to be surprisingly easy as I figured out how to do most of it on my own.

With a total of 39 BSL PRO lessons, you would expect at least a few to be quite similar. And yet, BIOPAC understood the importance of unique lessons and ensured that each one had a different background section, used different equipment, and covered a different topic.

woman submerging head in cold waterEach lesson includes fun concepts to keep you engaged, like dunking your head in cold water to see how your heart rate changes in Lesson H08: Dive Reflex, using equipment to make your finger twitch in Lesson H06: Finger Twitch, or testing and timing your reflexes in H16: Reflexes & Reaction Time.

While each lesson is unique and covers a different topic in physiology and anatomy, the lessons do follow a clear progression as you move from BSL PRO Lesson 1 to 40. They start shorter, utilizing more basic concepts and equipment. Then, as you progress through the lessons, you begin to work through increasingly complex physiological concepts until you end on a lesson involving the use of a breadboard. This last lesson involves nine separate labs, each as involving as the earlier individual lessons. This amount of work may sound daunting at first, but the skills picked up while completing the previous lessons leave you well-prepared to complete the final lesson and analyze clear data.

Working through BSL PRO Lessons is a unique and interactive experience that allows students to learn, connect, and analyze personalized data from a broad range of physiological and anatomy concepts, leaving you with a well-rounded and contextualized education experience.

Learn more about BIOPAC’s education solutions, including complete teaching systems for a variety of life science disciplines. BIOPAC also provides a wide range of research systems for recording, displaying, classifying, and analyzing physiological signals & measurements.

BIOPAC Systems, Inc. helps life science researchers and educators
measure physiology anywhere, any time, from any subject.
Visit us at www.biopac.com.

Curriculum Roadmap: Guiding Students with HAPS Learning Goals

When planning any journey, choosing the right route can mean the difference between reaching one’s destination or becoming lost in the wilderness. It helps to know the purpose of the trip; is it merely to get from point A to point B, or is the journey itself as important as reaching the destination? What stops need to be made along the way?

These questions can also resonate for instructors as they guide students along their academic journeys, as the goal of instruction is not limited to just reaching a specific destination. It is often about what occurs along the way: experiences, obstacles, and challenges encountered that shape the student and their understanding of the subject matter.

To help students and instructors on the path to better life science education, BIOPAC created a roadmap with its curriculum for the Biopac Student Lab systems (BSL) for life science instruction. The BSL curriculum comprises more than 65 lessons that serve as carefully plotted points on a path to an in-depth and invigorating understanding of general life science disciplines.

This curriculum follows a route established by the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS). HAPS has created a set of learning goals, guidelines, and outcomes that bring together a range of topics covered in Anatomy and Physiology I & II courses at the university level for both clinical and academic degree programs.

The advantages of following such a path are fourfold. First, students are provided with an outline of course expectations. Just as every journey should begin with a clear understanding of where one is going, knowing learning goals allows students to focus their efforts on what matters most. Furthermore, instructors are encouraged to relate learning goals to real-life applications to provide meaning in a relatable context.

Secondly, with straightforward goals in mind, the instructor will find it easier to manage course design by focusing on key elements of their curriculum. These can include the following:

  • Order of topics to cover
  • Pedagogical strategies
  • Lab experiments
  • Periodic assessments that help students stay on track

Taking this a step further, by following HAPS’s goals, guidelines, and outcomes, instructors will be better equipped to plan a comprehensive program of study. Well-defined goals allow the instructor to build a solid foundation for future courses and guide learning specific to the program’s discipline. Additionally, it can reveal redundancies, overlaps, and gaps in the degree track.Goal Planner

Lastly, just as a good cartographer’s map provides evidence of where the traveler has journeyed, carefully plotted goals, guidelines, and outcomes trace the students’ track within the academic program. This provides valuable information for accreditation while ensuring students graduate with the necessary skills for their chosen field in the sciences.

To learn more about how the BSL system and curriculum can help students and instructors get the most out of anatomy and physiology courses, contact BIOPAC today.

‘Tis the Season for Stress: Research Tools for Anxious Times

Holiday-related stress is as much of a seasonal tradition as family gatherings, frantic shopping forays, and over-indulgence in food and drink. Add to this potent mixture nearly two years of pandemic-induced tension and we have a volatile cocktail of emotions and anxiety awaiting us in November and December. What better time to study the causes and effects of stress?

Research has established strong links between stress and our moods and sense of well-being, not to mention overall mental and physical health. While certain types of stress during development can teach individuals to adapt to life’s many challenges, excessive and prolonged stress is shown to contribute to chronic disease and a range of psychological disorders. According to the American Psychological Association, which conducts an annual survey monitoring stress, the COVID pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on stress levels across all demographics, particularly among young people.

The pandemic is just one of many factors driving demand for new approaches to stress research. Thankfully, researchers now have access to a myriad of technologies to support any experiment design. In a recent webinar on techniques for measuring physiological changes related to stress, BIOPAC head of European Sales, Alex Dimov, outlined a range of stress-connected physiological responses that can be measured in the lab with available technologies. These include heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), trans-radial-ulnar electrical bioimpedance velocimetry (TREV), cardiac output, blood pressure, EDA, pulse, respiration, EMG, EEG, and functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

One of the challenges of measuring stress in a natural environment is finding the right data gathering tools to support the mobility of test participants. A 2019 study tackled this by examining a variety of techniques for measuring stress in day-to-day life using mobile phones and wearable sensors. Settings included the lab, automobile, office, school, and other daily life locations. Along with consumer products like smartphones, smartwatches, and fitness bands, researchers also employed wearable sensors, including the BioNomadix wireless PPG transmitter to measure blood volume pulse (BVP) using a photo plethysmogram (PPG) signal. Researchers found that the BIOPAC device provided a high level of accuracy (80%) when employed outside of the traditional lab environment.

Smelling RosesStress research technologies are not limited to data gathering. Stimulus presentation tools offer researchers options for both inducing and alleviating stress in the lab. A 2019 University of Wisconsin study investigating the role scents can play in reducing stress utilized EDA, heart rate, and respiratory rate to measure how rose scent reduced anxiety among students taking a difficult test. Respiratory rate was measured using a BIOPAC respiratory transducer while EDA data was collected with an EDA finger transducer. Data was collected and analyzed via the Biopac Student Lab System. While rose scent was delivered using scented lotion, it should be noted that BIOPAC offers a new modular scent delivery system that is capable of delivering up to eight scents per experiment, with more than 120 scent options.

With so many data gathering tools available, planning your next experiment should not leave you feeling on edge. Let your BIOPAC sales rep help you take the stress out of stress research.

BIOPAC offers a wide array of wired and wireless equipment that can be used in your research. To find more information on solutions for recording and analyzing signals such as ECG, heart rate, respiration, and more using any platforms mentioned in this blog post, you can visit the individual application pages on the BIOPAC website.

T4 Conference Wrap-up

August is a month of barbecues, baseball, and last-minute vacations against the backdrop of a fading summer, and the eighth month of 2019 proved to be an equally exciting time at BIOPAC, with something of a pleasant vacation thrown in. On August 12-14, BIOPAC hosted its 2nd Biennial “Tools, Trends, Techniques, and Technology” Human Physiology Conference, known as “T4” to our friends and partners around the world. This three-day event, first held in 2017, featured lively, informative sessions hosted by BIOPAC staff, partners, noted academics, and industry experts, and covered a wide range of physiological techniques and disciplines. Over 150 attendees joined BIOPAC at the 2019 T4 Conference staged once again at the beautiful University of California at Santa Barbara campus. Participants and instructors winged in from China, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, U.K., Ireland, and Egypt, as well as from wide regions of the U.S and Canada to soak up the idyllic surroundings of this ocean-side campus.

The focus of BIOPAC’s T4 Conference was to provide a fun, relaxed environment while hosting nearly 40 hands-on, human physiology training workshops chaired by over 20 distinguished instructors from around the globe. One of the many conference highlights was the “Mindfulness, Meditation, and Measurement: Mindfulness Exercises in Physiological Monitoring” session, hosted by Dr. Allan Weiss of the University of Southern California and  BIOPAC Co-founder and Director of R & D Alan Macy. These sessions, conducted in two parts over a two day period were booked beyond capacity, even though the early morning fog hadn’t yet lifted from the campus skyline.

The varied additional sessions covered a range from the basics, “Setting Up Your Lab, Getting Great Data and Troubleshooting,” (hosted by Dr. Terry Blumenthal of Wake Forest University, and BIOPAC’s Alan Macy and Tim Cook), and “Creating Your Own Lessons Using BSL PRO,” (hosted by Dr. Taffeta Elliot of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), to exciting new technologies such as “Integrating Screen-based Eye Trackers with AcqKnowledge,” with Keith Jackson of BIOPAC partner company EyeTech, BIOPAC CEO Frazer Findlay, and BIOPAC Engineering Manager Ed Peterlin. Additional wide-ranging physiological disciplines were also covered, including MRI techniques, stimulation, and exercise physiology. All sessions were conducted using BIOPAC hardware and software systems, as well as platforms provided by BIOPAC partners such as Cedrus, fNIR, WorldViz, Psychology Software Tools, and CNSystems. At the end of each day, it was time to relax and unwind with a beverage of choice, a a walk along the beach, and some good conversation. Each evening featured excellent meals and camaraderie in the relaxed yet elegant environment of some of Santa Barbara and Goleta’s most stunning surroundings. After three great days of immersive sessions, it came time for everyone to part ways, having forged new collaborative partnerships and an enhanced knowledge about the full potential of BIOPAC and BIOPAC partner products.

You don’t have to wait for T4 2021 to learn more about life science data—watch Fundamentals of Physiological Data Recording now!

For a closer look at T4, and a preview of what is sure to be an exciting 2021 event, we invite you to visit our T4 Human Physiology Conference page.

Looking for additional resources, tips, tricks, and expert advice on BIOPAC and BIOPAC Partner products? Please also visit our Webinars and Video Tutorial pages.

BIOPAC offers a wide array of wired and wireless equipment that can be used in your research. To find more information on solutions for recording and analyzing signals such as ECG, heart rate, respiration and more using any platforms mentioned in this blog post, you can visit the individual application pages on the BIOPAC website.

Best Practices for Recording & Analyzing Data

Over the past several years, tools and techniques for recording and analyzing physiological data recording have seen steady and marked improvement. Modern life science data acquisition systems such as the MP160 System and powerful research-grade software suites such as AcqKnowledge bring high-end physiology tools within reach of the smallest lab. Even with continuing advances and reduced margin for error, it remains prudent to follow some fundamental guidelines for maximizing data quality and clarity.

Preparation is important. First, invest time exploring the system if it’s new or unfamiliar. An overview of the documentation, training videos, and available webinars, as well as some practice runs with the hardware and software will save time and effort when the time comes to conduct a study. This will also build proficiency at identifying the differences between good and poor data.

Next, familiarize yourself with the type of electrodes and/or transducers necessary for the physiological signals you will be acquiring, which includes proper electrode and skin site preparation. For example, gently abrading the skin prior to applying electrodes is normally recommended for most signal types, except for electrodermal activity (EDA), in which case it’s vital to NOT abrade the skin beforehand. It is also helpful to wait at least 5 minutes before starting a recording, which enables the electrode gel to be absorbed into the skin, helping reduce the impedance.

Performing an impedance check to ensure that the electrodes are making good contact with the skin is also highly recommended. This task is made easier by using an Electrode Impedance Checker (such as EL-CHECK), a simple device for quickly measuring the resistance between the skin and the electrode that provides an LED readout of the skin/electrode contact quality. If the resistance is too high (indicating poor contact) proper adjustments can be made before starting an experiment.

For certain signal types, excessive participant movement can introduce unwanted artifact into the signal, resulting in poor or skewed data. Make sure the participant remains as still as possible during studies involving these signals. Using tape to attach the electrode leads to the skin and keep them from moving excessively can also be helpful.

A thorough check of the system and all connections, cameras, and other hardware is important, so that any problems with equipment or setup can be addressed in advance, thus avoiding a show-stopping issue in the midst of an experiment. This would include performing a pilot study with trained personnel in order to head off any unforeseen issues with the data collection.

Creating a lab setup conducive to a relaxed environment for the participant and technician alike will yield better results. This means eliminating clutter, noise, and other distractions that can affect comfort and attention span. Some labs even avoid having their staff wear lab coats because this can heighten participant nervousness.

Keeping detailed notes on successful lab setups is also helpful and will streamline the preparation process for future experiments. Additionally, creating and saving graph templates for regularly-repeated experiments will save further time and effort.

For more about the fundamentals of recording great data, we invite you to view this free on-demand webinar Fundamentals of Physiology Recording.

BIOPAC offers a wide array of wired and wireless equipment that can be used in your research. To find more information on solutions for recording and analyzing signals such as ECG, heart rate, respiration and more using any platforms mentioned in this blog post, you can visit the individual application pages on the BIOPAC website.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

ECG – The Little Wave You Can’t Live Without

For millennia, ancient healers across the globe long recognized the human heart as immeasurably vital to human life. Other organs may take an occasional time out, but not the heart. This sinewy fist-sized pump contracts and relaxes an average 60 to 80 beats per minute and faithfully repeats this cycle some two and a half billion times over an average human lifespan, constantly driving and recirculating lifeblood through 100,000 miles of veins, arteries, and capillaries. It’s a monumental task that we take for granted, but if the process stops for more than a few minutes, so will this mysterious force we call life.

It’s intriguing to consider the wonder with which the ancients must have contemplated this organ that thumps so audibly. They knew it was of critical importance, and over the centuries learned its form and surface physiology, but what did they imagine animated it? What force kept the heart moving so steadily and faithfully, while remaining implacably divorced from the consciousness of its host? (Go ahead. Try to stop your heart. On second thought, don’t.)

The answer, in a word, is electricity. Although the stethoscope, invented in 1816 by French physician René Laennec, augmented audible heart sounds, it wasn’t until 1901 that Dutch physician Willem Einthoven developed a “string galvanometer,” capable of reliably recording the heart’s electrical activity. Einthoven’s work established a standard configuration for recording the electrocardiogram (ECG) and garnered him the Nobel Prize in 1924. Because the ECG reflects electrical activity, it is a useful “picture” of heart normality or abnormality through the observation and analysis of various distinct components of the cardiac cycle. If there are interruptions of the electrical signal generation or transmission, the ECG changes. These changes can be useful in diagnosing changes within the heart.

The methods for recording ECG have become increasingly sophisticated with the advent of digital technology and have put state-of-the art acquisition and analysis of ECG within reach of not only clinicians, but also researchers and educators. Wired in-lab systems such as the BIOPAC MP160 System with AcqKnowledge software are widely used for Research applications, while the MP36 System with Biopac Student Lab software are the industry standard for physiology education around the globe. Wireless systems such as BioNomadix or BioNomadix Smart Center can be used to collect ECG and other body signals in an untethered environment and the BioNomadix Logger is a great solution for acquiring ECG and other body signals over extended periods outside the lab.

We have come a long way since our forebears contemplated the mysteries of the vital mechanical wonder that beats in every chest, and we now have a myriad of accessible options for unlocking its secrets.

For further exploration of ECG, we invite you to enjoy the following comprehensive free ECG webinars:

Recording Great ECG

HRV & RSA – Fundamental ECG Analysis Techniques

BIOPAC offers a wide array of wired and wireless equipment that can be used in your research. To find more information on solutions for recording and analyzing signals such as ECG, heart rate, respiration and more using any platforms mentioned in this blog post, you can visit the individual application pages on the BIOPAC website.

 

Think As Scientists Think—Empirical Research Skills

Learning to think as scientists think is empowering and drives this process and “Hard” and “soft” research skills combine well with Biopac Student Lab Lessons.

(Photo © 2016 Knowledge Growers, Inc.)

By Howard Iver Thorsheim, Ph.D., St. Olaf College

“Hard” and “soft” research skills combine well with Biopac Student Lab Lessons; for example:

  • Working as members of cooperative-learning teams;
  • Learning about basic psychophysiological measures;
  • Organizing supplies;
  • Following a protocol to greet a participant;
  • Explaining proposed procedure, and obtaining written informed consent using a form they draft;
  • Preparing participant, placing electrodes, and manipulating independent variables;
  • Debriefing participant;
  • Analyzing and graphing results;
  • Writing up research results in APA format.

Since the goal is learning skills for thinking, many of the usual requirements for rigorous research headed for publication can be relaxed for beginning students. This can motivate students for advanced student research honors projects or faculty/student research. Some examples of requirements that can be relaxed include naive participants (team members can serve as experimental participants in each other’s explorations—availability samples), sample sizes large enough to attain statistical power (instead two or three can be sufficient), and random assignment to conditions.

Learning to think as scientists think is empowering and drives this process, and some examples include students thinking about:

  • Articles of interest students find in data base searches that lead to their own research questions to explore;
  • Which psychophysiological measures they have practiced would provide information to help them learn more about their research question;
  • What they want their participants to do;
  • Key issues of experimental and statistical control, and
  • Any other equipment or supplies they might need to arrange for in addition to what is available within the limitations of available apparatus and facilities.

Before they may proceed, beginning students present their thinking on such issues to me as their consultant.

I provide a rubric with many tips, such as noting what they observed during the experiment that could have unintentionally influenced the results, describing strengths and limitations of their conclusions based on their findings, and answering the “So what?” question to extend their findings into their own life and think about the implications such findings might have for them.

See following for more ideas for teaching empirical research skills to help students think as scientists think, with research support:

Thorsheim, H. I. (2015). Experimental psychology. In D. S. Dunn (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Undergraduate Psychology Education. New York: Oxford University Press, 387-401. (Focus is.)

Learn more about BIOPAC’s education solutions, including complete teaching systems for psychophysiology and the life sciences. BIOPAC also provides a wide range of research systems for recording, displaying, classifying, and analyzing psychophysiological measurements.

BIOPAC Systems, Inc. provides life science researchers and educators with data acquisition and analysis systems that inspire people and enable greater discovery about life. Visit us at www.biopac.com.

Professor Thorsheim is a licensed Psychologist, educator, and author. He has published or presented over 125 papers, journal articles, books, book chapters or monographs, and received a patent in 1985 as a co-inventor for an educational book design with interactive elements. His work has been funded by marquee foundations across the globe. His most recent work is Doing Psychophysiology: Getting Started, available from Knowledge Growers, Inc., available as an iBook download in 51 countries.

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