Neurocognitive and psychophysiological analysis of human performance within virtual reality environments.

Monitoring the neurocognitive and psychophysiological activity of persons operating within a complex environment poses exacting measurement challenges. Three experiments are reported in this paper. In these experiments we made use of VRCPAT to assess persons' neurocognitive and psychophysiological responses to high-fidelity, immersive virtual environments. The first experiment provided continued support for the validity of the VRCPAT as a measure of learning and memory through the use of an increased sample size. In the second experiment we aimed at assessing whether an increase in stimulus complexity would result in a significant decrease in performance on attentional tasks. We also wanted to see whether an increase in stimulus intensity would result in a significant decrease in performance on attentional tasks. The third experiment looked at participants' psychophysiological responses in both low and high immersion virtual environments.

A virtual human agent for assessing bias in novice therapists.

Monitoring the psychological and physiological activity of persons interacting with virtual humans poses exacting measurement challenges. Three experiments are reported in this paper. In these experiments we made use of Virtual Human Agent technology to assess persons' psychological and physiological responses to Virtual Standardized Patients. The first experiment provided support for the usability of the Virtual Standardized Patients through the use of a virtual character emulating an adolescent male with conduct disorder. In the second experiment we further developed the technology and aimed at assessing whether novice mental health clinicians could conduct an interview with a virtual character that emulates an adolescent female who has recently been physically traumatized. The third experiment looked at the usability of Virtual Standardized Patients for eliciting psychophysiological responses following exposure to virtual humans representing different ethnicities.

Arousal, working memory, and conscious awareness in contingency learning.

There are wide individual differences in the ability to detect a stimulus contingency embedded in a complex paradigm. The present study used a cognitive masking paradigm to better understand individual differences related to contingency learning. Participants were assessed on measures of electrodermal arousal and on working memory capacity before engaging in the contingency learning task. Contingency awareness was assessed both by trial-by-trial verbal reports obtained during the task and by a short post-task recognition questionnaire. Participants who became aware had fewer non-specific skin conductance responses and tended to score higher on a digit span assessment. Skin conductance level was not significantly lower in the aware group than in the unaware group. These findings are consistent with studies showing that lower arousal and greater cognitive processing capacity facilitate conscious perception of a greater breadth of information within a scene or a task.

Altered resting state neuromotor connectivity in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A MAPP: Research Network Neuroimaging Study.

Brain network activity associated with altered motor control in individuals with chronic pain is not well understood. Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a debilitating condition in which previous studies have revealed altered resting pelvic floor muscle activity in men with CP/CPPS compared to healthy controls. We hypothesized that the brain networks controlling pelvic floor muscles would also show altered resting state function in men with CP/CPPS. Here we describe the results of the first test of this hypothesis focusing on the motor cortical regions, termed pelvic-motor, that can directly activate pelvic floor muscles. A group of men with CP/CPPS (N = 28), as well as group of age-matched healthy male controls (N = 27), had resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans as part of the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network study. Brain maps of the functional connectivity of pelvic-motor were compared between groups. A significant group difference was observed in the functional connectivity between pelvic-motor and the right posterior insula. The effect size of this group difference was among the largest effect sizes in functional connectivity between all pairs of 165 anatomically-defined subregions of the brain. Interestingly, many of the atlas region pairs with large effect sizes also involved other subregions of the insular cortices. We conclude that functional connectivity between motor cortex and the posterior insula may be among the most important markers of altered brain function in men with CP/CPPS, and may represent changes in the integration of viscerosensory and motor processing.