Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) in the wild: Remote heart rate imaging via online webcams.

Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) is a low-cost technique to measure physiological parameters such as heart rate by analyzing videos of a person. There has been growing attention to this technique due to the increased possibilities and demand for running psychological experiments on online platforms. Technological advancements in commercially available cameras and video processing algorithms have led to significant progress in this field. However, despite these advancements, past research indicates that suboptimal video recording conditions can severely compromise the accuracy of rPPG. In this study, we aimed to develop an open-source rPPG methodology and test its performance on videos collected via an online platform, without control of the hardware of the participants and the contextual variables, such as illumination, distance, and motion. Across two experiments, we compared the results of the rPPG extraction methodology to a validated dataset used for rPPG testing. Furthermore, we then collected 231 online video recordings and compared the results of the rPPG extraction to finger pulse oximeter data acquired with a validated mobile heart rate application. Results indicated that the rPPG algorithm was highly accurate, showing a significant degree of convergence with both datasets thus providing an improved tool for recording and analyzing heart rate in online experiments.

A Self-Help Virtual Therapeutic Experience Intervention for Overcoming Psychological Distress Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From the European Multicentric COVID Feel Good Trial.

OBJECTIVE: The general objective of the current study was to investigate the efficacy of a novel self-help virtual therapeutic experience (specifically, the COVID Feel Good intervention) in lowering the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdowns in four European countries. METHODS: We focused on participants recruited from June 2020 to May 2021 in the context of a European multicenter project including four university/academic sites. The total number of participants in the longitudinal studies was 107 (study 1, N = 40; study 2, N = 29; study 3, N = 38). The randomized controlled trial (study 4) included 31 participants in total, 16 in the intervention group and 15 in the control group. Primary outcome measures were depression, anxiety, stress symptoms, perceived stress level, and perceived hopelessness. The secondary outcome was experienced social connectedness. RESULTS: Using separate linear mixed-effects models, the most consistent result across countries was a reduction in perceived stress after the participation in the COVID Feel Good intervention. By pooling the results of the models using a random-effects meta-analysis, we found that after the COVID Feel Good intervention, participants reported a decrease in perceived general distress (mean standardized effect size for general distress in the treatment groups compared with the control conditions was -0.52 [ p = .008, 95% confidence interval = -0.89 to -0.14]) and an increase in the perceived social connection (mean standardized effect size for social connection using COVID Feel Good compared with the control conditions was 0.50 [ p ≤ .001, 95% confidence interval = 0.25 to 0.76]). CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study indicate that a virtual self-help intervention is effective in reducing psychological distress. These results contribute to the growing literature supporting the use of digital psychological therapies to relieve psychological distress among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.Trial Registration : ISRCTN63887521.

Phonological similarity between words is represented in declarative memory as spatial distance.

Space can be used as a metaphor to describe semantic and perceptual similarity. Research has shown that similarity and spatial information can influence each other. On the one hand, similarity entails spatial closeness; on the other hand, proximity leads to similarity judgment. This spatial information can be stored in declarative memory and measured later on. However, it is unknown if phonological similarity/dissimilarity between words is represented as spatial closeness/distance in declarative memory. In this study, 61 young adults were tested on a remember-know (RK) spatial distance task. Participants learned noun pairs on the PC screen that were manipulated concerning their phonological similarity (similar vs. dissimilar) and reciprocal spatial distance (near vs. far). In the recognition phase, old-new, RK, and spatial distance judgments were asked. We found that for hit responses in both R and K judgments, phonologically similar word pairs were remembered closer compared to phonologically dissimilar pairs. This was also true for false alarms after K judgments. Lastly, the actual spatial distance at encoding was only retained for hit R responses. Results suggest that phonological similarity/dissimilarity is represented respectively with spatial closeness/distance and that this information is stored in the neurocognitive system of declarative memory.

The interaction between motor simulation and spatial perspective-taking in action language: a cross-cultural study.

Growing evidence has revealed the crucial role of motor simulation and spatial perspective-taking in action language. However, there is still a lack of understanding of how motor and spatial processes interact when there are multiple actors involved, and if embodied processes are consistent across different cultures. To address this gap, we examined the interaction between motor simulation and spatial perspective-taking in action-sentences comprehension, along with the consistency of embodied processes across cultures. We collected data from Italian and US English speakers using an online sentence-picture verification task. The participants completed four conditions: two congruent (i.e., the participant is the agent in the sentence and the photo; the agent is someone else interacting with the participant in both the sentence and the picture) and two incongruent (i.e., the agents of the sentence and the picture do not match). The results show that when the perspective of the picture matched that described in the sentence-processing reaction times (RTs) were faster than in the incongruent conditions. In the congruent conditions where the agent is someone else, RTs were slower compared to the condition where the participant is the agent. This has been interpreted as claiming that motor simulation and perspective-taking are independent processes interacting during sentence comprehension (e.g., motor simulation is always run in the role of the agent, but we can adopt multiple perspectives depending on the pronouns and the contextual cues). Furthermore, Bayesian analysis provided evidence that embodied processing of action language entwines a common mechanism, suggesting cross-cultural consistency of embodied processes.

Virtual Reality for Anxiety Disorders: Rethinking a Field in Expansion.

The principal aim to this chapter is to present the latest ideas in virtual reality (VR), some of which have already been applied to the field of anxiety disorders, and others are still pending to be materialized. More than 20 years ago, VR emerged as an exposure tool in order to provide patients and therapists with more appealing ways of delivering a technique that was undoubtedly effective but also rejected and thus underused. Throughout these years, many improvements were achieved. The first section of the chapter describes those improvements, both considering the research progresses and the applications in the real world. In a second part, our main interest is to expand the discussion of the new applications of VR beyond its already known role as an exposure tool. In particular, VR is enabling the materialization of numerous ideas that were previously confined to a merely philosophical discussion in the field of cognitive sciences. That is, VR has the enormous potential of providing feasible ways to explore nonclassical ways of cognition, such as embodied and situated information processing. Despite the fact that many of these developments are not fully developed, and not specifically designed for anxiety disorders, we want to introduce these new ideas in a context in which VR is experiencing an enormous transformation.

The role of reference frames in memory recollection.

In this commentary on Bastin et al., we suggest that spatial context plays a critical role in the encoding and retrieval of events. Specifically, the translation process between the viewpoint-independent content of a memory and the viewpoint-dependent stimuli activating the retrieval (mental frame syncing) plays a critical role in spatial memory recollection. This perspective also provides an explanatory model for pathological disturbances such as Alzheimer's disease.

Toward an Embodied Medicine: A Portable Device with Programmable Interoceptive Stimulation for Heart Rate Variability Enhancement.

In this paper, we describe and test a new portable device that is able to deliver tactile interoceptive stimulation. The device works by delivering precise interoceptive parasympathetic stimuli to C-tactile afferents connected to the lamina I spinothalamocortical system. In humans, interoceptive stimulation can be used to enhance heart rate variability (HRV). To test the effectiveness of the device in enhancing HRV, 13 subjects were randomly assigned in a single-blind between-subjects design either to the experimental condition or to the control condition. In the experimental condition, subjects received stimulation with the developed device; in the control condition subjects received stimulation with static non-interoceptive pressure. Subjects' electrocardiograms (ECG) were recorded, with sampling at 1000 Hz for 5 min as a baseline, and then during the stimulations (11 min). Time domain analyses were performed to estimate the short-term vagally mediated component (rMSSD) of HRV. Results indicated that the experimental group showed enhanced rMSSD, compared to the control group. Moreover, frequency domain analyses indicated that high frequency band power, which reflects parasympathetic activity in humans, also appeared to be enhanced in the experimental group compared to control subjects. Conclusions and future challenges for an embodied perspective of rehabilitative medicine are discussed.

Egocentric and Allocentric Spatial Memory for Body Parts: A Virtual Reality Study.

Extensive literature elucidated the mechanisms underlying the ability to memorize the positions of objects in space. However, less is known about the impact that objects' features have on spatial memory. The present study aims to investigate differences in egocentric and allocentric object-location memory between hand stimuli depicted in a first-person perspective (1PP) or in a third-person one (3PP). Fifty-two adults encoded spatial positions within a virtual museum environment featuring four square buildings. Each of these buildings featured eight paintings positioned along the walls, with two pictures displayed on each of the four walls. Thirty-two stimuli were employed, which represented pictures of the right hand performing various types of gestures. Half of the stimuli depicted the hand in the 1PP, while the other half depicted the hand in the 3PP. Both free and guided explorations served as encoding conditions. Immediately after that, participants underwent a two-step object-location memory task. Participants were provided with a map of the museum and asked to identify the correct building where the image was located (allocentric memory). Then, they were presented with a schematic representation of the exhibition room divided into four sections and instructed to select the section where they thought the picture was located (egocentric memory). Our findings indicate a memory performance boost associated with egocentric recall, regardless of the perspective of the bodily stimuli. The results are discussed considering the emerging literature on the mnemonic properties of body-related stimuli for spatial memory.

Interoceptive technologies for psychiatric interventions: From diagnosis to clinical applications.

Interoception-the perception of internal bodily signals-has emerged as an area of interest due to its implications in emotion and the prevalence of dysfunctional interoceptive processes across psychopathological conditions. Despite the importance of interoception in cognitive neuroscience and psychiatry, its experimental manipulation remains technically challenging. This is due to the invasive nature of existing methods, the limitation of self-report and unimodal measures of interoception, and the absence of standardized approaches across disparate fields. This article integrates diverse research efforts from psychology, physiology, psychiatry, and engineering to address this oversight. Following a general introduction to the neurophysiology of interoception as hierarchical predictive processing, we review the existing paradigms for manipulating interoception (e.g., interoceptive modulation), their underlying mechanisms (e.g., interoceptive conditioning), and clinical applications (e.g., interoceptive exposure). We suggest a classification for interoceptive technologies and discuss their potential for diagnosing and treating mental health disorders. Despite promising results, considerable work is still needed to develop standardized, validated measures of interoceptive function across domains and before these technologies can translate safely and effectively to clinical settings.

Reconceptualizing Somatic Dysfunction in the Light of a Neuroaesthetic Enactive Paradigm.

Background: Palpatory findings are considered a central element of osteopathic practice, especially when associated with a patient's altered regulative functions than with named somatic dysfunctions. Although osteopathic theories for somatic dysfunction could be plausible, the clinical applicability of the concept is debated, especially because it is largely related to simple cause-effect models of osteopathic care. In contrast to a linear kind of diagnosis of a "tissue as a producer of symptoms", this perspective article aims to provide a conceptual and operational framework in which the somatic dysfunction evaluation process is seen as a neuroaesthetic (en)active encounter between osteopath and patient. Subsections relevant to the subject: To summarize all concepts of the hypothesis, the enactive neuroaesthetics principles are proposed as a critical foundation for the osteopathic assessment and treatment of the person, specifically addressing a new paradigm for somatic dysfunction. Conclusions, and future directions: The present perspective article represents a proposition to blend technical rationality informed by neurocognitive and social sciences, and professional artistry clinical experience informed by traditional tenets, to overcome the controversy around somatic dysfunction, rather than dismissing the concept.

The multisensory mind: a systematic review of multisensory integration processing in Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa.

Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa present alterations in the way they experience their bodies. Body experience results from a multisensory integration process in which information from different sensory domains and spatial reference frames is combined into a coherent percept. Given the critical role of the body in the onset and maintenance of both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, we conducted a systematic review to examine multisensory integration abilities of individuals affected by these two conditions and investigate whether they exhibit impairments in crossmodal integration. We searched for studies evaluating crossmodal integration in individuals with a current diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa as compared to healthy individuals from both behavioral and neurobiological perspectives. A search of PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Sciences databases was performed to extract relevant articles. Of the 2348 studies retrieved, 911 were unique articles. After the screening, 13 articles were included. Studies revealed multisensory integration abnormalities in patients affected by Anorexia Nervosa; only one included individuals with Bulimia Nervosa and observed less severe impairments compared to healthy controls. Overall, results seemed to support the presence of multisensory deficits in Anorexia Nervosa, especially when integrating interoceptive and exteroceptive information. We proposed the Predictive Coding framework for understanding our findings and suggested future lines of investigation.

Diagnoses of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa have increased dramatically in recent years, taking on the characteristics of a mental health emergency. More research is therefore needed to better understand these conditions, especially given their complex and multifaceted nature. Patients affected by these conditions report significant alterations in body-self experience. Body experience results from a cross-modal integration process in which information from different sensory modalities and spatial frames is combined. Therefore, we systematically reviewed studies that focused on multisensory integration in patients affected by Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, as it may play a key role in the onset and maintenance of these pathologies. Studies in this review found multisensory integration difficulties in patients with Anorexia Nervosa, but not enough studies were retrieved to draw conclusions regarding Bulimia Nervosa. We discussed findings trying to link behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroscientific evidence in light of the predictive coding framework to provide a different perspective on patients' distorted body experiences. This may lead to new insights to refine our understanding of these complex and poorly understood disorders.

Effectiveness of a Virtual-Reality-Based Self-Help Intervention for Lowering the Psychological Burden during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Iran.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic. In this framework, digital self-help interventions have the potential to provide flexible and scalable solutions for delivering evidence-based treatments that do not necessitate face-to-face meetings. OBJECTIVE: as part of a multicentric project, the purpose of the current randomized controlled trial was to evaluate the efficacy of a Virtual-Reality-based self-help intervention (namely, COVID Feel Good) in lowering the psychological distress experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. METHODS: 60 participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (COVID Feel Good intervention group) or the control (no-treatment control group) condition. At the beginning of the intervention (Day 0), at the end of the intervention (Day 7), and after a 2-week follow-up (Day 21), measurements of depressive and anxiety levels, general distress, perceived levels of stress, hopelessness (primary outcome measures), perceived interpersonal closeness with the social world, and fear of COVID-19 (secondary outcome measure) were collected. The protocol consists of two integrated parts: the first part includes a relaxing 10-min three-hundred-sixty-degree (360°) video, while the second one includes social tasks with specified objectives. RESULTS: In terms of the primary outcomes, participants in the COVID Feel Good intervention group improved in depression, stress, anxiety, and perceived stress but not hopelessness. Secondary outcome results showed an improvement in perceived social connectedness and a substantial decrease in fear of COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: these findings on the efficacy of COVID Feel Good training add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the feasibility of digital self-help interventions in promoting well-being during this unique period.

Event-related transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation modulates behaviour and pupillary responses during an auditory oddball task.

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a neuromodulatory technique that is thought to activate the Locus Coeruleus-Noradrenaline (LC-NA) system. Standard taVNS protocols consist of the administration of intermittent or continuous stimulation over long periods. However, there is currently a limited understanding of the temporal dynamics of taVNS modulation of cognitive processes, as well as its mechanisms of action. We argue that novel stimulation approaches, informed by established theories of the LC-NA system, are needed to further our understanding of the neurocognitive underpinnings of taVNS. In this pre-registered study, we tested whether an "event-related" taVNS protocol can modulate the LC-NA system. In a within-subject design (single session) we delivered brief trains of taVNS (3 s) during an auditory oddball paradigm. The taVNS was time-locked to the target stimuli presentation and randomly interleaved with sham stimulation. Response times (RT) and stimuli-driven pupillary diameter (PD) were used as indices of LC-NA activity. Results revealed that active taVNS increased RT to targets, as compared to sham trials. Notably, in line with current theories of LC-NA functioning, taVNS modulation of target-related pupil dilation depended on pre-stimulation PD, an index of baseline LC-NA activity. In particular, active (vs. sham) taVNS was associated with smaller pupil dilation in trials where the baseline PD was small. These results demonstrate, for the first time, the effectiveness of brief event-related taVNS in the modulation of cognitive processes and highlight the importance of using pupil size as an index of tonic and phasic LC-NA activity.

From Virtual Reality to Regenerative Virtual Therapy: Some Insights from a Systematic Review Exploring Inner Body Perception in Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa.

Despite advances in our understanding of the behavioral and molecular factors that underlie the onset and maintenance of Eating Disorders (EDs), it is still necessary to optimize treatment strategies and establish their efficacy. In this context, over the past 25 years, Virtual Reality (VR) has provided creative treatments for a variety of ED symptoms, including body dissatisfaction, craving, and negative emotions. Recently, different researchers suggested that EDs may reflect a broader impairment in multisensory body integration, and a particular VR technique-VR body swapping-has been used to repair it, but with limited clinical results. In this paper, we use the results of a systematic review employing PRISMA guidelines that explore inner body perception in EDs (21 studies included), with the ultimate goal to analyze the features of multisensory impairment associated with this clinical condition and provide possible solutions. Deficits in interoception, proprioception, and vestibular signals were observed across Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa, suggesting that: (a) alteration of inner body perception might be a crucial feature of EDs, even if further research is needed and; (b) VR, to be effective with these patients, has to simulate/modify both the external and the internal body. Following this outcome, we introduce a new therapeutic approach-Regenerative Virtual Therapy-that integrates VR with different technologies and clinical strategies to regenerate a faulty bodily experience by stimulating the multisensory brain mechanisms and promoting self-regenerative processes within the brain itself.

Efficacy of Multisensory Technology in Post-Stroke Cognitive Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review.

Post-stroke, in addition to sensorimotor signs and symptoms, could lead to cognitive deficits. Theories of embodiment stress the role of sensorimotor system and multisensory integration in sustaining high-order cognitive domains. Despite conventional post-stroke cognitive rehabilitation being effective, innovative technologies could overcome some limitations of standard interventions and exploit bodily information during cognitive rehabilitation. This systematic review aims to investigate whether 'multisensory technologies' compared to usual care treatment can be a viable alternative for cognitive rehabilitation. By applying PRISMA guidelines, we extracted data and assessed the bias of 10 studies that met the required criteria. We found that multisensory technologies were at least comparable to standard treatment but particularly effective for attention, spatial cognition, global cognition, and memory. Multisensory technologies consisted principally of virtual reality alone or combined with a motion tracking system. Multisensory technologies without motion tracking were more effective than standard procedures, whereas those with motion tracking showed balanced results for the two treatments. Limitations of the included studies regarded the population (e.g., no study on acute stroke), assessment (e.g., lack of multimodal/multisensory pre-post evaluation), and methodology (e.g., sample size, blinding bias). Recent advancements in technological development and metaverse open new opportunities to design embodied rehabilitative programs.

COVID Feel Good: Evaluation of a Self-Help Protocol to Overcome the Psychological Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a German Sample.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severe consequences for physical as well as mental well-being. In times of restricted social contact, online self-help programs offer a low-threshold first aid to cope with the psychological burden. This current study evaluates the online self-help protocol "COVID Feel Good" in a German sample. The multicentric study was designed as a single cohort with a waiting list control condition. The convenience sample consisted of 38 German individuals who experienced at least two months of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 7-day self-help protocol included the VR video "Secret Garden" as well as a social or cognitive exercise each day. General distress, depression, anxiety, stress, and hopelessness were assessed as primary outcomes. Social connectedness and fear of coronavirus were measured as secondary outcomes. Results showed a significant decrease in all primary outcomes except for hopelessness. Furthermore, the results indicated a significant improvement in social connectedness. Treatment effects on general distress, depression, stress, and anxiety persisted for two weeks after participation. The present study indicates that VR-based self-help protocols can mitigate the psychological burden associated with the pandemic, supporting recent findings.

Regenerative Virtual Therapy: The Use of Multisensory Technologies and Mindful Attention for Updating the Altered Representations of the Bodily Self.

The term "regenerative medicine" (RM) indicates an emerging trend in biomedical sciences that aims at replacing, engineering, or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs to restore or establish normal function. So far, the focus of RM has been the physical body. Neuroscience, however, is now suggesting that mental disorders can be broadly characterized by a dysfunction in the way the brain computes and integrates the representations of the inner and outer body across time [bodily self-consciousness (BSC)]. In this perspective, we proposed a new kind of clinical intervention, i.e., "Regenerative Virtual Therapy" (RVT), which integrates knowledge from different disciplines, from neuroscience to computational psychiatry, to regenerate a distorted or faulty BSC. The main goal of RVT was to use technology-based somatic modification techniques to restructure the maladaptive bodily representations behind a pathological condition. Specifically, starting from a Bayesian model of our BSC (i.e., body matrix), we suggested the use of mindful attention, cognitive reappraisal, and brain stimulation techniques merged with high-rewarding and novel synthetic multisensory bodily experience (i.e., a virtual reality full-body illusion in sync with a low predictabIlity interoceptive modulation) to rewrite a faulty experience of the body and to regenerate the wellbeing of an individual. The use of RVT will also offer an unprecedented experimental overview of the dynamics of our bodily representations, allowing the reverse-engineering of their functioning for hacking them using advanced technologies.

Robots Are Not All the Same: Young Adults' Expectations, Attitudes, and Mental Attribution to Two Humanoid Social Robots.

The human physical resemblance of humanoid social robots (HRSs) has proven to be particularly effective in interactions with humans in different contexts. In particular, two main factors affect the quality of human-robot interaction, the physical appearance and the behaviors performed by the robot. In this study, we examined the psychological effect of two HRSs, NAO and Pepper. Although some studies have shown that these two robots are very similar in terms of the human likeness, other evidence has shown some differences in their design affecting different psychological elements of the human partner. The present study aims to analyze the variability of the attributions of mental states (AMS), expectations of robotic development and negative attitudes as a function of the physical appearance of two HRSs after observing a real interaction with a human (an experimenter). For this purpose, two groups of young adults were recruited, one for the NAO (N = 100, M = 20.22) and the other for the Pepper (N = 74, M = 21.76). The results showed that both the observation of interaction and the type of robot affect the AMS, with a greater AMS to Pepper robot compared to NAO. People's expectations, instead, are influenced by the interaction and are independent of the type of robot. Finally, negative attitudes are independent of both the interaction and the type of robot. The study showed that also subtle differences in the physical appearance of HSRs have significant effects on how humans perceived robots.

Using virtual reality to target positive autobiographical memory in individuals with moderate-to-moderately severe depressive symptoms: A single case experimental design.

So far, several aspects of autobiographical memory (AM) have been found to be impaired in depression. Among others, depressed patients show the tendency to recall more negative than positive events (i.e., negative bias) and usually retrieve memories that lack of specificity and details (i.e., overgeneral memories). Based on this, we designed an AM task enhanced by the use of virtual reality (VR) to specifically train the recall of positive memories. Using a single-case, multiple baseline experimental design, we explored the effects of a brief intervention consisting of two sessions of this training in a sample of 18 individuals with moderate-to-moderately severe depressive symptoms. According to the results, changes occurred at the short term only. In particular, almost all participants reported a significant improvement in at least one outcome measure 0-3 days after the intervention. However, these clinical gains were not maintained in the mid-term (from day 4 to 10). The present findings do not support the efficacy of our VR-based AM recall treatment as a standalone intervention. Nevertheless, it might represent a suitable procedure to obtain immediate and/or short-term improvements. It might also serve as a valid component to be integrated in broader protocols for patients with moderate-to-moderately severe depressive symptoms.

Emerging Adults' Expectations About the Next Generation of Robots: Exploring Robotic Needs Through a Latent Profile Analysis.

The investigation of emerging adults' expectations of development of the next generation of robots is a fundamental challenge to narrow the gap between expectations and real technological advances, which can potentially impact the effectiveness of future interactions between humans and robots. Furthermore, the literature highlights the important role played by negative attitudes toward robots in setting people's expectations. To better explore these expectations, we administered the Scale for Robotic Needs and performed a latent profile analysis to describe different expectation profiles about the development of future robots. The profiles identified through this methodology can be placed along a continuum of robots' humanization: from a group that desires mainly the technical features to a group that imagines a humanized robot in the future. Finally, the analysis of emerging adults' knowledge about robots and their negative attitudes toward robots allowed us to understand how these affect their expectations.