Assessing the user experience of older adults using a neural network trained to recognize emotions from brain signals.

The use of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies as a means to cope with problems that arise due to an increasing and aging population is becoming usual. AAL technologies are used to prevent, cure and improve the wellness and health conditions of the elderly. However, their adoption and use by older adults is still a major challenge. User Experience (UX) evaluations aim at aiding on this task, by identifying the experience that a user has while interacting with an AAL technology under particular conditions. This may help designing better products and improve user engagement and adoption of AAL solutions. However, evaluating the UX of AAL technologies is a difficult task, due to the inherent limitations of their subjects and of the evaluation methods. In this study, we validated the feasibility of assessing the UX of older adults while they use a cognitive stimulation application using a neural network trained to recognize pleasant and unpleasant emotions from electroencephalography (EEG) signals by contrasting our results with those of additional self-report and qualitative analysis UX evaluations. Our study results provide evidence about the feasibility of assessing the UX of older adults using a neural network that take as input the EEG signals; the classification accuracy of our neural network ranges from 60.87% to 82.61%. As future work we will conduct additional UX evaluation studies using the three different methods, in order to appropriately validate these results.

On the Effect of Previous Technological Experience on the Usability of a Virtual Rehabilitation Tool for the Physical Activation and Cognitive Stimulation of Elders.

We present and discuss our findings on the identified causes for the differences of the results of two usability studies on the borrowed use of Gesture Therapy, a virtual rehabilitation tool for the cognitive stimulation and physical activation of elders. The studies focused on usability aspects including perceived usefulness, ease of use, intention of use and user experience. In the first study, we used self-report techniques to gather data, and found that previous technological experience had a significant effect on the perceived anxiety of elders; while on the second study, we used indirect observation techniques to gather data, and found that previous technological experience had a significant effect on the perceived enjoyment of elders. After a further analysis of the video recordings of the playing sessions, we identified that elders developed two different approaches to their using the application (explore-and-learn and score-and-compete), which could be related to their previous technological experience, and explain the identified differences. We observed that in the presence of problems, the response of participants was different depending on the adopted behavior. Based on this evidence, we distilled a set of preliminary guidelines to foster or inhibit certain behaviors and outcomes related to the effect of previous experience that were observed during our evaluation studies of virtual tools for the cognitive stimulation and physical activation of the elderly.

An internet-based self-applied rat phobia treatment using a Virtual Therapy Assistant: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Specific phobias are a common anxiety disorder that deteriorates the lives of people who suffer from them. To reduce the symptoms produced by this mental disorder exposure therapies have been used. However, low- and middle-income countries, including Mexico, have the lowest rate of treatment due to multiple barriers that prevent addressing mental health problems. Self-applied treatments have been explored in previous studies, nevertheless, high dropout rates are a common problem in this kind of treatment. An alternative is using immersive self-applied treatments that could help increase adherence to the treatment. This article aims to present a study protocol to explore the feasibility of an Internet self-applied exposure treatment for rat phobias, using four types of immersive multimedia elements: images, videos, video games, and 360° videos. Also, the satisfaction and perception of a Virtual Therapy Assistant (VTA) that provides information and support to the user are described. The study protocol will compare two groups of participants, one on the waiting list, and the other will receive the self-applied treatment for rat phobia supported by the VTA. For this study, 45 participants will be recruited and the evaluation measures will be taken at four different times: baseline, post-treatment, and follow-ups at 3 and 6 months. The levels of anxiety and avoidance of the user manifested during the exposure to the multimedia elements, the improvement of the user's clinical symptoms, the level of satisfaction, the perception of effectiveness, and ease of use of the self-applied system will be evaluated. This study is expected to support the viability of self-applied treatment for rat phobias and the use of a VTA, showing the impact on treatment adherence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore an exposure treatment for rats using different multimedia elements with the support of a VTA. The work will serve as a basis for the development of new virtual assistants that help in the treatment of other types of specific phobias. This research has been registered in Clinical Trials NCT (NCT05081323).

Effect of the level of task abstraction on the transfer of knowledge from virtual environments in cognitive and motor tasks.

Introduction: Virtual environments are increasingly being used for training. It is not fully understood what elements of virtual environments have the most impact and how the virtual training is integrated by the brain on the sought-after skill transference to the real environment. In virtual training, we analyzed how the task level of abstraction modulates the brain activity and the subsequent ability to execute it in the real environment and how this learning generalizes to other tasks. The training of a task under a low level of abstraction should lead to a higher transfer of skills in similar tasks, but the generalization of learning would be compromised, whereas a higher level of abstraction facilitates generalization of learning to different tasks but compromising specific effectiveness. Methods: A total of 25 participants were trained and subsequently evaluated on a cognitive and a motor task following four training regimes, considering real vs. virtual training and low vs. high task abstraction. Performance scores, cognitive load, and electroencephalography signals were recorded. Transfer of knowledge was assessed by comparing performance scores in the virtual vs. real environment. Results: The performance to transfer the trained skills showed higher scores in the same task under low abstraction, but the ability to generalize the trained skills was manifested by higher scores under high level of abstraction in agreement with our hypothesis. Spatiotemporal analysis of the electroencephalography revealed higher initial demands of brain resources which decreased as skills were acquired. Discussion: Our results suggest that task abstraction during virtual training influences how skills are assimilated at the brain level and modulates its manifestation at the behavioral level. We expect this research to provide supporting evidence to improve the design of virtual training tasks.

CANoE: a context-aware notification model to support the care of older adults in a nursing home.

Taking care of elders in a nursing home is not an easy task. Caregivers face two major problems: a lack of awareness of the situations surrounding the elderly care and the lack of information regarding the availability and the activities of other caregivers to support their coordination process. Various efforts have proposed solutions to cope with these problems, but they do it without considering all the requirements imposed by the criticality of this type of environment. In this paper we propose CANoE, a model for the design of context-aware notifications in critical environments, such as a nursing home. The main feature of this model is that it considers three sources of context (the environment, and the issuer and the receiver of the notification) for adapting the content, the terms of delivery and the presentation of the notification message. Based on the CANoE model we developed the CANoE-Aw and CU-IDA systems, which were evaluated through two case studies in a nursing home. The results of these evaluations provide evidence that caregivers achieved an increased awareness of the situations of care of the elderly and perceived the systems as adequate tools to support their coordination while attending a situation of care.

Evaluation Results of an Ontology-based Design Model of Virtual Environments for Upper Limb Motor Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients.

OBJECTIVES: 1) To enhance the content of an ontology for designing virtual environments (VEs) for upper limb motor rehabilitation of stroke patients according to the suggestions and comments of rehabilitation specialists and software developers, 2) to characterize the perceived importance level of the ontology, 3) to determine the perceived usefulness of the ontology, and 4) to identify the safety characteristics of the ontology for VEs design according to the rehabilitation specialists. METHODS: Using two semi-structured Web questionnaires, we asked six rehabilitation specialists and six software developers to provide us with their perception regarding the level of importance and the usability of the ontology. From their responses we have identified themes related to perceived and required safety characteristics of the ontology. RESULTS: Significant differences in the importance level were obtained for the Stroke Disability, VE Configuration, Outcome Measures, and Safety Calibration classes, which were perceived as highly important by rehabilitation specialists. Regarding usability, the ontology was perceived by both groups with high usefulness, ease of use, learnability and intention of use. Concerning the thematic analysis of recommendations, eight topics for safety characteristics of the ontology were identified: adjustment of therapy strategies; selection and delimitation of movements; selection and proper calibration of the interaction device; proper selection of measuring instruments; gradual modification of the difficulty of the exercise; adaptability and variability of therapy exercises; feedback according to the capabilities of the patient; and real-time support for exercise training. CONCLUSIONS: The rehabilitation specialists and software developers confirmed the importance of the information contained in the ontology regarding motor rehabilitation of the upper limb. Their recommendations highlight the safety features and the advantages of the ontology as a guide for the effective design of VEs.

Understanding and supporting lightweight communication in hospital work.

Informal communication is an essential resource in hospital work; it is used as a means to collaborate and coordinate the way in which work is performed, as well as to locate and gather the artifacts and human resources required for patient care. The need of physical proximity to establish and hold informal communications has motivated the development of tools that support remote informal interaction. However, this kind of technology has not been widely adopted in hospitals, where workers experience intense mobility. In this paper, we present the results of an observational study in a hospital aimed at understanding how local mobility changes the rules in the provision of support for informal communication, and how technology could improve this form of communication. We found that local mobility fosters opportunities for colocated communication; however, it faces some inconveniences related to the affordances of the physical environment. We address these issues through the design of SOLAR, a collaborative application that supports colocated interactions in hospital work through the implementation and integration of five services that form a ubicomp infrastructure. Additionally, we present a discussion about the perception of users related to the usefulness of this tool.