Jaime Guixeres

The Intelligent e-Therapy System: A New Paradigm for Telepsychology and Cybertherapy.

ABSTRACT One of the main drawbacks of computer-assisted psychology tools developed up to now is related to the real time customisation and adaptation of the content to each patient depending on his/her activity. In this paper we propose a new approach for mental e-health treatments named Intelligent e-Therapy (eIT) with capabilities for ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing. From a technical point of view, an eIT system is based on four fundamental axes: ambient intelligence for capturing physiological, psychological and contextual information of the patient; persuasive computing for changing/reinforcing behaviours; ubiquitous computing for using the system at any place, and at any time; and multiple technological platforms support.

Using Virtual Reality to Distract Overweight Children from Bodily Sensations During Exercise.

This study analyzes the potential of virtual reality (VR) to enhance attentional distraction in overweight children as they experience bodily sensations during exercise. It has been suggested that one reason why obese children stop exercising is the perception of bodily sensations. In a counterbalanced design, a total of 109 children (33 overweight, 10-15 years old) were asked to walk twice for 6 minutes on a treadmill under one of two conditions: (a) traditional condition (TC)-focusing their attention on their physical feelings and sensations or (b) distraction condition (DC)-focusing their attention on a virtual environment. Attentional focus during exercise, bad-good feeling states (pre- and postexperimental), perceived exertion (3 minutes and post), heart rate, and enjoyment were assessed. Results indicated that overweight children focused on internal information under the TC, but they significantly shifted their attention to regard the external environment in the DC. This attentional distraction effect of VR was more intense in overweight than in normal-weight children. No differences between groups were found when examining changes in feeling states and perceived exertion. VR increased enjoyment during exercise, and children preferred exercise using virtual environments. VR is useful to promote distraction and may help overweight and obese children to enjoy exercise.

GameTeen: new tools for evaluating and training emotional regulation strategies.

The aim of this paper is to describe GameTeen, a novel instrument for the assessment and training of Emotional Regulation (ER) strategies in adolescent population. These new tools are based on the use of 3D serious games that can be played under different settings. The evolution of ER strategies will be monitored in two ways depending on the setting where the tool is presented. Firstly, in the laboratory, physiological signals and facial expressions of participants will be recorded. Secondly, in real life settings, ecological momentary assessment tools will be used to obtain answers from the subjects using their mobile phone. The goal is to obtain more attractive and reliable tools to evaluate and train ER strategies.

Consumer Neuroscience-Based Metrics Predict Recall, Liking and Viewing Rates in Online Advertising

The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether the effectiveness of a new ad on digital channels (YouTube) can be predicted by using neural networks and neuroscience-based metrics (brain response, heart rate variability and eye tracking). Neurophysiological records from 35 participants were exposed to 8 relevant TV Super Bowl commercials. Correlations between neurophysiological-based metrics, ad recall, ad liking, the ACE metrix score and the number of views on YouTube during a year were investigated. Our findings suggest a significant correlation between neuroscience metrics and self-reported of ad effectiveness and the direct number of views on the YouTube channel. In addition, and using an artificial neural network based on neuroscience metrics, the model classifies (82.9% of average accuracy) and estimate the number of online views (mean error of 0.199). The results highlight the validity of neuromarketing-based techniques for predicting the success of advertising responses. Practitioners can consider the proposed methodology at the design stages of advertising content, thus enhancing advertising effectiveness. The study pioneers the use of neurophysiological methods in predicting advertising success in a digital context. This is the first article that has examined whether these measures could actually be used for predicting views for advertising on YouTube.

Ubiquitous monitoring and assessment of childhood obesity

Childhood obesity is a significant health problem in current societies that is increasing at an alarming way among population of all ages. To date, studies on the effectiveness of treatments for childhood obesity in the medium and long term suggest a moderate effect on weight loss and maintenance, which has led to suggestions that early interventions have a preventive nature on adult obesity. The long-term recovery of the weight lost is often associated with a lack of adherence to recommendations for changing life habits. Then, obesity becomes a chronic problem, difficult to approach, and the main difficulty lies in promoting and ensuring adherence to a change in lifestyle. A system known as ETIOBE has been developed to improve the treatment adherence, to promote the mechanisms of self-control in patients and to prevent relapses. An important part of the ETIOBE system is the ubiquitous monitoring platform since it enables the clinician to obtain relevant information from patients (contextual, physiological and psychological), which enables treatment customization and adaptation, depending on the patient’s evolution. The aim of this paper is to describe the monitoring platform which is intended to establish a sensor network whose focus is the obese children under clinical treatment, and the various elements that compose it: electronic PDA records to establish diet habits, HAS: home ambulatory system (data integration of biomedical devices; blood pressure to study hypertension; pulse oximeter to detect Sleep Disorders; and electronic t-shirt to detect physical activity). This paper presents the first validations of the electronic PDA records and the electronic t-shirt. These validations suggest that the monitoring platform can help to achieve the goals previously mentioned, by offering constant support and increasing motivation to change.

Reliability and validity of TIPS wireless ECG prototypes.

The aims of the present study are to examine the reliability and validity of the Heart Rate signal registered using two self-made wireless ECG systems, R-Tips and TipsShirt, and to compare them with another commercial ECG device typically used in psychophysiology studies. An ECG simulator was used to artificially generate signals corresponding to different cardiac frequencies. Results of the reliability study showed that the signal acquisition, signal processing and signal transmission were reliable and valid for R-Tips and TipsShirt. Consequently, these wireless ECG prototypes could be used for studies where the freedom of movements of the participants is fundamental without any loss of quality in the registered signals.

Affective computing in virtual reality: emotion recognition from brain and heartbeat dynamics using wearable sensors

Affective Computing has emerged as an important field of study that aims to develop systems that can automatically recognize emotions. Up to the present, elicitation has been carried out with non-immersive stimuli. This study, on the other hand, aims to develop an emotion recognition system for affective states evoked through Immersive Virtual Environments. Four alternative virtual rooms were designed to elicit four possible arousal-valence combinations, as described in each quadrant of the Circumplex Model of Affects. An experiment involving the recording of the electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) of sixty participants was carried out. A set of features was extracted from these signals using various state-of-the-art metrics that quantify brain and cardiovascular linear and nonlinear dynamics, which were input into a Support Vector Machine classifier to predict the subject’s arousal and valence perception. The model’s accuracy was 75.00% along the arousal dimension and 71.21% along the valence dimension. Our findings validate the use of Immersive Virtual Environments to elicit and automatically recognize different emotional states from neural and cardiac dynamics; this development could have novel applications in fields as diverse as Architecture, Health, Education and Videogames.

Home-exercise Childhood Obesity Intervention: A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Print Versus Web-based (Move It) Platforms

Purpose: To compare the impact of adhering to a Mediterranean diet plus mixed physical exercise program (Move‐It) implemented by means of printed instructions or via a web‐platform (with or without e‐mail support) on body composition, physical fitness, and blood pressure. Design and Methods: Randomized clinical trial. Fifty‐two overweight or obese Spanish children and adolescents were randomly assigned to the print‐based (n = 18), Move‐It (n = 18), or Move‐It plus support (n = 16) intervention groups. Two‐way mixed ANOVA tests were used to compare any changes between the groups in terms of percentage body fat, physical fitness (VO2peak), handgrip strength, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The measurements were taken before and after a three‐month mixed‐exercise (aerobic and resistance) and Mediterranean‐diet program which was either implemented by means of printed instructions or via a web‐platform (with or without e‐mail support). Results: No statistical differences were found between groups. However, the results highlighted significant improvements in body fat percentage metrics over time for all three groups (print‐based: −1.8%, 95%CI −3.3% to −0.3%; Move‐It: −1.8%, 95%CI −3.3% to −0.3%; Move‐It plus support: −2.0%, 95%CI −3.7% to −0.4%, P < 0.05). We also observed a tendency towards improvement in the VO2peak, handgrip strength, and blood pressure variable values 10 min after the exercise‐stress test in these three groups. Conclusions: The program improved the body composition, regardless of the way it is implemented. Practice Implications: A mixed physical exercise program lasting for three months, combined with a Mediterranean diet, improves the body composition of children and adolescents with overweight/obesity. Highlights:Move‐It improves the body composition in three months.Move‐It improves the body composition, regardless of the way it is implemented.Move‐It shows a tendency towards improvement in physical fitness and blood pressure.

Could virtual reality be an effective tool to combat obesity and sedentariness in children? results from two research studies

Virtual Reality (VR) could be interesting tool to combat obesity and sedentariness in children. Objective is to study possibilities of VR during aerobic exercise in children obese and normal weight . Physiological (cardiovascular and metabolic response with biomedical sensors (smart fabrics TIAS)) and psychological responses have been collected. First study (n=90), a commercial platform was tested as support to aerobic exercise in a treadmill. Results showed more physiological effort by obese group and limitations to measure effort perception with Borg scale especially in obese group. In second study (n=126) a new VR platform was developed (VREP) and tested ,all the boys completed both conditions (same Aerobic exercise with/without support VR). 59.5% felt more effort in the traditional condition The vast majority of the participants liked the idea of combining physical activity with VR as a form of treatment to increase physical activity.

Ontologies for Intelligent e-Therapy: Application to Obesity

In this paper we propose a new approach for mental e-health treatments named intelligent e-therapy (e-it) with capabilities for ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing. The proposed e-it system supposes an evolution of cybertherapy and telepsychology tools used up to now. The e-it system is based in a knowledge base that includes all the knowledge related to the disorder and its treatment. We introduce the use of ontologies as the best option for the design of this knowledge base. We also present a fist e-it system for obesity treatment called etiobe.