Pietro Cipresso

New Technologies for Improving the Psychological Treatment of Obesity

Most clinicians and patients consider obesity just as a problem of energy balance: more energy input than expenditure. However, the epidemiological data and the clinical practice clearly show that obesity is more complex than described by this simple equation. In particular the chapter underlined the possible role of negative body image in the etiology of this disturbance. Specifically, we suggested that unhealthful weight-control behaviors, that induce significant weight gain over time, may be driven by an allocentric negative body image that is no more updated by contrasting egocentric representations driven by perception (allocentric lock). In other words, subjects are locked to an allocentric negative representation of their body that their sensory inputs are no more able to update even after the dramatic body changes following a successful diet or bariatric surgery. In the chapter we also discussed the possible role of virtual reality (VR) in addressing this problem within an integrated treatment approach. Specifically, we suggested that adding a 10-session experiential protocol based on the free NeuroVR (www.neurovr.org) virtual reality software to the classical treatment of obesity may improve its long-term outcome. The characteristics of the protocol and the outcome of two controlled clinical trials used to test it (VEPSY UPDATED ISRCTN59019572, and AVATOB NCT01394393) are detailed and discussed.

Cognitive assessment of executive functions using brain computer interface and eye-tracking

New technologies to enable augmentative and alternative communication in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) have been recently used in several studies. However, a comprehensive battery for cognitive assessment has not been implemented yet. Brain computer interfaces are innovative systems able to generate a control signal from brain responses conveying messages directly to a computer. Another available technology for communication purposes is the Eye-tracker system, that conveys messages from eye-movement to a computer. In this study we explored the use of these two technologies for the cognitive assessment of executive functions in a healthy population and in a ALS patient, also verifying usability, pleasantness, fatigue, and emotional aspects related to the setting. Our preliminary results may have interesting implications for both clinical practice (the availability of an effective tool for neuropsychological evaluation of ALS patients) and ethical issues.

A Process for Selecting and Validating Awe-Inducing Audio-Visual Stimuli

Awe is a complex emotion that influences positively individuals’ wellbeing both at a physical and at a psychological level. Eliciting awe in a lab setting is a delicate task, and several effective techniques have been developed to pursue this goal, such as audio-video stimuli. Nevertheless, a standardized procedure to select these audio-video awe-inducing stimuli is still needed. Therefore, we validated a methodology to select and discriminate among awe- inducing stimuli. The novelty of the methodology is two-fold: (i) it allows testing whether each content elicited the target emotion, and (ii) it allows to identify the most awe-conductive videos, using both classical statistics and Bayesian analyses. Four videos displaying awe, amusement and neutral contents were shown to participants in a counterbalanced order. This procedure allowed for identifying and validating awe-inducing stimuli that can be pliably used to improve individual’s wellbeing and mental health in different contexts.

The Psychology of Social Networking Vol.1. Personal Experience in Online Communities

The Internet provides a popular and convenient source of information and support on parenting, offering many opportunities for both peer and professional support. Recent studies have also shown that both parents and children can benefit from online parenting support. In this chapter, we describe the current variety of online services for parents, distinguishing between peer support and professional support. Specifically we will focus on the design characteristics of these web-based resources. Since Internet technology is still rapidly developing, many new opportunities for social networking are available. The provision of multilayered interaction (many-to-many, one-tomany, one-to-one) and the use of multiple components in websites may enhance the way parents feel supported. Also, training can be added to online programs, which aims to change parental knowledge, behavior and attitude. Furthermore, we discuss experimental results from recent meta-analytic study on the effects of online parental education. Providing an overview of the past decade, we discuss two major trends which give direction to future research and development: missing aspects of research on online social networking and inspiring opportunities for online professional support for parents.The Internet provides a popular and convenient source of information and support on parenting, offering many opportunities for both peer and professional support. Recent studies have also shown that both parents and children can benefit from online parenting support. In this chapter, we describe the current variety of online services for parents, distinguishing between peer support and professional support. Specifically we will focus on the design characteristics of these web-based resources. Since Internet technology is still rapidly developing, many new opportunities for social networking are available. The provision of multilayered interaction (many-to-many, one-tomany, one-to-one) and the use of multiple components in websites may enhance the way parents feel supported. Also, training can be added to online programs, which aims to change parental knowledge, behavior and attitude. Furthermore, we discuss experimental results from recent meta-analytic study on the effects of online parental education. Providing an overview of the past decade, we discuss two major trends which give direction to future research and development: missing aspects of research on online social networking and inspiring opportunities for online professional support for parents.

The Psychology of Social Networking Vol.2. Identity and Relationships in Online Communities

The Internet allows people to freely navigate through news and use that information to reinforce or support their own beliefs in, for example, different social networks. In this chapter we suggest that the representation of current predominant views in the news can be seen as collective expressions within a society. Seeing that the notion of what makes individuals happy has been of increasing interest in recent decades, we analyze the word happiness in online news. We first present research on the co-occurrence of the word happiness with other words in online newspapers. Among other findings, words representing people (e.g., “mom”, “grandmother”, “you”/”me”, “us”/”them”) often appear with the word happiness. Words like “iPhone”, “millions” and “Google” on the other hand, almost never appear with the word happiness. Secondly, using words with predefined sets of psycholinguistic characteristics (i.e., word-norms measuring social relationships, money, and material things) we further examine differences between sets of articles including the word happiness and a random set of articles not including this word. The results revealed that the “happy” dataset was significantly related to social relationships word-norm, while the “neutral” dataset was related to the money word-norm. However, the “happy” dataset was also related to the material things word-norm. In sum, there is a relatively coherent understanding among members of a society concerning what makes us happy: relationships, not money; meanwhile there is a more complex relationship when it comes to material things. The semantic method used here, which is particularly suitable for analyzing large amounts of data, seems to be able to quantify collective ideas in online news that might be expressed through different social networks.

An Immersive Cognitive Rehabilitation Program: A Case Study

VR is a useful tool for the improvement and customization of the classical clinical settings. The aim of this paper is to present an innovative virtual-based cognitive rehabilitation protocol. We also present the results of a patient, SB, who showed an improvement in the results of the test in both the target and non-target cognitive domains.

The Use of 3D Body Scanner in Medicine and Psychology: A Narrative Review

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.

Psychophysiological Specificity of Four Basic Emotions Through Autobiographical Recall and Videos

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.