Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health

Current theories of emotion generally agree that basic emotions involve several systems with a considerable degree of specificity at the psychophysiological level. Analyzing the psychophysiological profiles of emotions allowed to understand if individuals felt the target emotional states or if they perceived it into the emotional material. Here, we explored the sensitivity of autobiographical recall and videos in reproducing emotional psychophysiological specificity even in the lab. We recorded 40 participants’ psychophysiological profiles of anger, fear, joy, sadness elicited through videos and autobiographical recall, following a within subject design, in a counterbalanced order. We assessed the autonomic responding (i.e., heart rate) during each emotion induction (3 min length) using a ProComp Infinity 8-channel (Thought Technology Ltd, Montreal, Canada). The sampling rate was set at 256 Hz. We followed the guidelines of Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology, to extract typical temporal and spectral HRV measures and to evaluate the response of the autonomic nervous system. Specifically, we classified the rhythms as very low frequency (VLF, <0.04 Hz), and high frequency (HF, 0.15 to 0.4 Hz) oscillations. Results showed that emotions induced through autobiographical recall could be better differentiated than those elicited using videos. We found significant interaction effects of 4 emotions × 2 conditions (video vs. autobiographical recall) measuring both sympathetic (VLF) and parasympathetic activity (HF). Autobiographical recall could recreate a differential activation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system for each emotion, which was mostly in line with existing literature. However, videos did not allow discriminating different emotional states clearly at the psychophysiological level. These findings suggested autobiographical recall as a more suitable technique to recreate basic emotions’ psychophysiological activation in the lab. Finally, these results offered some insights into the issue of whether emotions induced in the lab are perceived or really felt by participants.

Personality traits are an important part of the psychology with so many study to consider this actually a huge field. On the other hand, the relationship between personality traits and attentional process has not been deepen extended yet, above all using technological advanced measures to quantify attention. In this study we selected personal and neutral photos presenting all of them to the participants while tracking the eyes movements by using an eye-tracker. Results showed that personal images have in general higher number of fixation and more saccades. Specifically, while extroverts showed no differences in exploring personal and neutral photos, introverts participants showed an higher number of fixations and more saccades for personal images than neutral. These results if confirmed in further studies pone interesting questions about the role of personality in attentional processes linked to personal experiences.

Frailty is a new and interesting concept that describes a preclinical condition in which elderly are more vulnerable and the possibility to develop pathologies increases. Often, the physical decline is related to cognitive impairments: Subjects in this situation are defined as cognitive frail patients. The literature connected to this syndrome is growing steadily and a bibliometric analysis is needed to better understand the evolution and the current state of the art. In this article, several domains are analyzed: Authors, categories, countries, institutions and journals. An interesting scenario emerged from the data: On the one hand, outcomes show a strong interest in understanding the real diffusion of this phenomenon using demographics and statistical methods. On the other hand, it emerged the increasing application of mathematical models to the study of medical phenomena.

With the rapid ageing of the population, designing inclusive mobile interfaces that match accessibility requirements is an important challenge. Here, we report results of an exploratory study, which investigated the feasibility of using an “aging simulator suit” for modeling the sensorimotor limitations of elderly users interacting with a tablet application. The study involved one experimental group (“simulated ageing” condition, SA) and two normative comparison groups (“elderly control” condition, EA; and “young control” condition, YC). In the SA condition, a group of young adults (N = 60; mean age = 26.1, s.d. = 4.0) carried out a visuo-motor task while wearing the aging simulator suit, which reproduced three levels of visuo-motor impairment: (i) visual; (ii) motor; (iii) visual and motor. In the EC condition, the same visuo-motor task was executed by a sample of healthy elderly individuals (N = 20; mean age = 73.5, s.d. = 6.3). In the “young control” (YC) condition, the task was executed by a sample of young adults (N = 40; mean age = 24.6; s.d. = 4.7). Results showed that accuracy and speed of YC outperformed performance of EC and SA. Furthermore, SA approximated EC performance, suggesting that aging simulator suit may provide a reliable model of visuo-motor limitations of the normative-aged group. Implications of these findings for design practice are discussed.

There has been a growing interest in assessing interpersonal communication competences, to understand how to empower them in specific domains. The aim of this study was to create an Italian adaptation of the Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS), by Rubin & Martin. The study was designed to assess the structure of the ICCS and to determine the number of components needed to adequately describe the psychological constructs of Interpersonal Communication Competence in the Italian sample. The questionnaire was administered to 137 subjects. Adopting an analytic process using an exploratory factor analysis, the steps yield a seven factor solution composed of 26 items. We discussed results and future directions concerning interpersonal communication competence scale.

The sense of the physiological condition of the entire organism (i.e. interoception) represents a fundamental perception that serves a correct and balanced functioning of the human body. Interoceptive information constitutes a core element in a variety of psycho-physiological systems and processes; therefore the possibility to consistently stimulate the interoceptive system with specifically targeted inputs has a fundamental value both in assessing and clinical settings. The article illustrates a new technological portable device able to delivered precise interoceptive parasympathetic stimuli to C-T afferents connected to the lamina I spinothalamocortical system. Interoceptive stimuli can be programmed in a variety of parameters, ranging from continuous stimulation to modulation of frequency and variance. Implications and possible applications are discussed in both assessing protocols and clinical treatments as well.

Technology can play a part in the healthy aging process, helping people maintain their social life and remaining cognitively active. Individuals over 65 may have little or no knowledge on how to use technology, therefore they need to learn how to use it before being able to benefit from it. The aim of this paper is to test the efficacy of a digital education program in improving digital self-efficacy, self-esteem, and quality of perception of cognitive skills in older adults. Results show that digital self-efficacy significantly improves, while self-esteem and quality of life increase but not significantly after training. Perception of cognitive skills actually decreased or remain the same after the course.

Learning a second language could be a boring task if accomplished by repeating bilingual words lists. Laboratory research demonstrated that second language learning is more efficient if the material is enriched by pictures or gestures during the encoding phase. Here we want to test the impact of 360° videos on foreign language learning. The 360° videos are spherical videos that allow a lifelike exploration of the environment, if experienced immersively (namely, by means of a Head Mounted Display). The protocol includes ten 360° videos representing natural landscapes, sport performances and adventures; each video has been enriched with a narrative that guides the subject’s attention towards the relevant elements named in English (the second language). The goals are twofold: first, we want to investigate whether the videos fruition is able to promote language learning; second, we want to verify the acceptability and perceived utility of this technology by potential users.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been identified as one of the 25 top causes of years lived with disability. Currently, no pharmacological treatment can prevent, slow down, or stop the course of this disease. From the clinical and health management perspectives, Mild Cognitive Impairment – a condition representing a risk factor for the development of dementia - and early stages of AD are the most interesting conditions for interventions aimed at delaying further decline. Telemonitoring and telerehabilitation home-based services have been advocated to provide manifold benefits for people with cognitive disorders. In this paper, we will describe the concept vision enlightening Ability, a technology-enhanced continuity-of-care home program for people with cognitive disorders. After describing the platform architecture, we will present a use case showing how it benefits people with cognitive disorders and both formal and informal caregivers by generating intertwining support in the process of care, enhancing well-being, health conditions, and inclusion.

In this narrative review several articles that explain the application of 3D Body Scanner were analyzed. Among all published articles in the last 10 years only 14 met the inclusion criteria. There are several fields of application of this technology: Body shape and posture analysis, pediatrics, metrical analysis, and forensic medicine. The results indicate that 3D Body Scanner is a promising technology that could help clinicians and researchers to improve their work both in term of quality and time saving.

An early decline in navigation abilities is one of the first sign of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). More specifically, it has been suggested that allocentric impairments contribute significantly to this pathological decline. In this vein, the objective of the current work was to investigate the contribution of different spatial abilities involved in navigation (including allocentric ones) to the cognitive decline. Thirty elderly participated in the study, divided into two groups: Fifteen cognitively healthy aged individuals and fifteen individuals with AD. Our results showed that patients with AD performed significantly poorer in almost all tests evaluating spatial abilities in comparison to cognitively healthy aged individuals. Interestingly, we found that the allocentric abilities were the only significant predictor of the cognitive decline. Overall, these results suggested the primary role of allocentric impairments in contributing to the cognitive pathological decline.

Technological advances are providing the field of positive psychology with new means with which to potentially enhance well-being. Emerging interventions – such as those from psychopharmacology, noninvasive brain stimulation, apps, big-data computational linguistic analysis of social media, and virtual reality – often diverge in various ways from the primarily cognitive and psychosocial interventions more common in the extant positive psychology literature. This paper describes several of these emerging technologies and considers the effects that they may come to have on the science of well-being, and recommends that positive psychology discourse expand to more fully integrate biopsychosocial aspects of well-being.

Gamers have reported that their gaming experiences are pervasive and manifest even when they are not playing, re-experiencing sensorial perceptions (e.g., seeing images, hearing sounds, voices, tactile sensations), automatic responses toward game-related cues, urges to performed activities as in the game, etc. This paper proposes applying the Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) framework and what has been learned on GTP for: (i) strengthening interventions using virtual technologies, (ii) developing or enhancing pedagogic tools for intrusions in mental disorders, and (iii) understanding underlying symptoms of psychiatric and neurological conditions, including gaming addiction or Internet Gaming Disorder. Can we apply the GTP mechanisms to develop virtual applications for positive means such as learning skills, modifying interpretation of stimuli, changing dysfunctional habits, etc.? This paper overviews GTP (e.g., GTP types and characteristics), introduces the GTP framework, outlines core factors relevant for GTP, GTP mechanisms, and game contents commonly transferred, and discusses potential applications of GTP.

The aging population increases the number of new diagnoses of breast cancer and women of all ages experience psychological stress for possible treatment related side effects. To prepare elderly women diagnosed with breast cancer to face the imminent chemotherapy we developed an e-health intervention based on the Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) protocol, lasting two weeks. The online intervention includes 10 sessions to see once a day. The research design is a controlled trial comparing an experimental group, following the online intervention in addition to traditional treatment provided by the hospital, and a control group without treatment. The aim of this contribution is to explore the level of engagement of eight patients through a case series study. Furthermore, the acceptance of the online intervention by elderly patients in terms of perceived pleasantness, usefulness and easiness is assessed. Data show that patients remain in a stable position (mainly ranging from the arousal and the adhesion phases) within the engagement process after two weeks. Furthermore, patients of the experimental group report a good level of acceptance of the e-health intervention. Thus, preliminary results suggest that the e-health intervention is well accepted by elderly patients and that it addresses patients’ need of knowing the imminent treatment experience and of understanding how to deal with it.

Based on the Langerian definition of mindfulness, we created a smartphone App to promote cognitive flexibility, curiosity, novelty seeking, and creativity in a population of older adults. So far, we have tested it on 68 participants, randomly assigned to the experimental group or to a wait-list control group. Between group comparisons failed to detect a significant effect on quality of life, though qualitative analysis report a positive impact of the App over participants’ lives.

Emotion regulation (ER) is defined as the processes deployed by an individual or group of individuals to explicitly or implicitly influence the experienced emotions in order achieve desirable states or goals. The available literature within this domain has grown exponentially in the last years. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge no scientometric analysis has been carried out yet. This kind of analysis allows to grasp how the scientific production within this field is configured, by establishing patterns and connections between the main authorities of the community. In the current analysis, descriptive data of the citation counts of main authors, institutions, journals, categories and countries are presented. Overall, the description shows the prominent role some authors as the principal authorities within the field, the predominance of United States in the citation counts as well as the high-impact journals in which the articles of this discipline are published. The most relevant implications of the findings are discussed in terms of future lines regarding the field of emotion regulation.

As patient engagement cannot be achieved without health professionals co-operation and agreement, attention to the clinicians’ views and attitudes about patient engagement is essential in order to deepen potential enablers and barriers for its implementation. This qualitative study aimed to identify health professionals’ attitudes towards patient engagement and the perceived hindrances and facilitators to the implementation of the patient engagement strategies in their routine practice with a particular focus of health information technologies for patient engagement. It identifies the dimensions underlying patient engagement realization, namely clinicians’ “Meanings and attitudes towards patient engagement”, “practical experience of patient engagement”, and “being a health professional in the era of patient engagement”, as well as highlights the fashion in which these dimensions operate will either activate or inhibit patient engagement innovation. Finally, the study highlighted the great potential of health technologies to support patient engagement if they are enablers of the patient-clinician relationship and not replace it.

Six in-depth clinical interviews, involving six elderly female patients (aged 60+) and one female psychiatrist, were recorded and analysed for a number of prosodic accommodation variables. Our analysis focused on pitch, speaking time, and vowel-space ratio. Findings indicate that there is a dynamic manifestation of prosodic accommodation over the course of the interactions. There is clear adaptation on the part of the psychiatrist, even going so far as to have a reduced vowel-space ratio, mirroring a reduced vowel-space ratio in the depressed patients. Previous research has found a reduced vowel-space ratio to be associated with psychological distress; however, we suggest that it indicates a high level of adaptation on the part of the psychiatrist and needs to be considered when analysing psychiatric clinical interactions.