Cognitive and neural adaptations related to physical exercise
Date: 3 February 2023 Speaker: Daniel Sanabria Lucena, Universidad de Granada Abstract: This talk discusses evidence of the neural and cognitive functioning during physical exercise, together with an in-depth review of the alleged effects of regular exercise on cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the life span. In the first part of the talk, physical exercise at moderate-high intensity is framed as a strain state that induces cognitive and neural adaptations, similar to that occurring during drowsiness, at the opposite end of the arousal continuum. Behavioural and neural data, both from univariate and multivariate EEG analyses, will show how the brain adapts to increase physical demands and arousal. When repeated over long periods of time, sessions of moderate-to-high physical exercise are thought to induce permanent adaptations at the neural level, that results in improved cognition. The next part of the talk will review that literature, showing that the current evidence does not support the claims regarding the cognitive benefits of the regular practice of physical exercise. Bio: Daniel Sanabria is full professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, and leads the Human Brain and Cognition research group at the Mind, Brain & Behavior research center. The group is interested in different topics, from the cognitive, neural and phenomenological underpinnings of strain states such as high intensity physical exercise, to the study of mood variability. They employ behavioral measures of performance and subjective experience, together with electroencephalography. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
Characterization of EEG neural markers in the sensorimotor cortex when using movement sonification for walking ability
Date: 25th January 2023Speaker: Marta Matamala-Gomez Abstract: Little is known about responses to periodic auditory stimuli with periodicities found in human rhythmic behavior (0.5-5 Hz). However, some studies show a tonic synchronization response in the delta range, taken at the Cz-electrode, with a maximum response at 2 Hz, when using periodic auditory stimulation (drum sounds and clicks sound stimuli (Will & Berg, 2007). Recently, entrainment models of rhythmic motor behavior investigated intrinsic rhythmicity and frequency coupling in neural systems (Thaut et al., 1997). According to this, it is shown that a repetition rate frequency between 1-8 Hz is the most relevant to induce a human repetitive sensorimotor behavior (Large et al., 2009; Will & Berg, 2007). Further, a recent study developed a validated new approach to define the brain responses associated with biological motion perception by showing a point-light walker moving at a pace of 2.4 Hz and using EEG frequency ragging to measure the brain response coupled to that pace (Cracco et al., 2022 (preprint)). In this study, the authors identified brain responses coupled to the biological movement of walking at 1.2 Hz (half walking cycle), corresponding to the rate at which the individual dots repeated their trajectory, and at 2.4 Hz, that was related to the full walking cycle movement (Cracco et al., 2022 (preprint)). Aim: To investigate which frequency rate between 1 and 8 Hz is the more appropriate to reach a peak of brain entrainment when observing a repetitive video walking stimulus coupled to a footstep audio stimulus displayed at the same frequency. Methods: The study is composed of three different factors: (i) audio stimuli, (ii) video stimuli, (iii) audio + video stimuli. Each factor contains six different conditions (i) audio stimuli: normal footstep sound vs. random footsteps sound set at different frequencies: Slow frequency (0.5 Hz), Normal frequency (2 Hz), Fast frequency (3.5 Hz). (ii) Video stimuli: normal walking movement vs. random walking movements set at Slow frequency (0.5 Hz), Normal frequency (2 Hz), Fast frequency (3.5 Hz). (iii) Audio + video stimuli: normal walking movement + normal footsteps sound vs. random walking movement + random footsteps sound, set at different frequencies, Slow frequency 0.5 Hz, Normal frequency 2 Hz, Fast frequency 3.5 Hz. Each condition will be repeated four times in a randomized order. Hypothesis: We expect higher brain entrainment responses with the audio (footsteps stimuli) + video (walking movement) set at 2 Hz. Then we expect to show the same level of entrainment in audio and video conditions set at 2 Hz rate frequency, and in the audio-motor association condition at 2 Hz rate frequency. Biography:Since April 2002, Dr. Marta Matamala-Gomez is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Barcelona, under the Beatriu de Pinòs program. She is currently working on investigating the impact of sonification on the human brain, and how can be applied in neurorehabilitation. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biomedicine (research line: cognitive neuroscience) in 2017 at the University of Barcelona under the supervision of Professors Maria V.Sánchez-Vives and Mel Slater. During her Ph.D. period, she investigated the use of immersive virtual reality in neurorehabilitation and its impact on neuroplasticity in healthy and clinical populations with motor and chronic pain disorders. Her PhD work was graded with excellent-cum laude. The results from two of the main studies of her thesis work lead to the development of a new virtual reality rehabilitation software on the route to commercialization by Virtual Body works S.L. Product: iCORTEX®. On 5 December 2017, the Academic Committee of the Biomedicine program granted permission to display the international doctorate certification. After her Phd, she moved to Italy for four years (2018-2022) at the University Milano Bicocca as a post-doctoral researcher where she was investigating the use of virtual embodiment through multisensory integration techniques in virtual reality to update mental body representation in clinical and healthy populations. In detail, the first year, she was collaborating with the University of Pavia on an Italian multicentre National project “The Telerehabilitation Italian Network for Care Continuity”. Here she also introduced the use of new visual feedback techniques for the modulation of pain perception in patients suffering from chronic migraines. Later, thec andidate won another research grant public competition for the award of one grant for research activities on the theme “New technologies to support multidimensional rehabilitation paths for the management of chronicity”, where she participated in two different national projects for the implementation and design of telerehabilitation strategies using new technologies. Further, she collaborated with the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Milan in investigating the usability and user experience of a VR-based system directed to modify the mental body representation of patients with anorexia nervosa through a full virtual body illusion. She also participates in National and International conferences as an invited speaker to talk about the use of virtual embodiment and sensory techniques for clinical applications: EFIC 2022, Dublin, Ireland; BRNet 2022, Sion, Switzerland; INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON UPDATES ON TELEMEDICINE AND TELESURGERY, SAUDI ARABIA. IEEE SMC 2022, Prague, Czech Republic; I Congreso Internacional de Afrontamiento Activo del Dolor Crónico, Valladolid, Spain; LXXIV Reunión Anual de la SEN 2022, Sevilla, Spain. During her post-doctoral period, she mentored master and PhD students on the experimental design and development of their research studies. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
Wearable-Based Measurement of Skin Conductance: Issues and Applications
Date: Jan 18, 2023 Speaker: Susanna Spinsante. Università Politecnica delle Marche Abstract: Starting from some background information about the physiology of skin conductance, and the information encoded in skin conductance signals, the talk will present the wearable devices currently available to acquire this signal, and the associate measurement issues. Finally, an overview of applications exploiting the use of wearables and the processing of skin conductance to understand human reactions and behaviour, will be provided. Biography: Susanna Spinsante is currently an Associate Professor in Electrical and Electronic Measurements at the Information Engineering Department of Università Politecnica delle Marche (Ancona, Italy). Her research interests are in the field of electronic measurements, instrumentation and metrological issues in IoT and wearable applications. She is IEEE Senior Member and Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements. If you are interested in attending, or would like to give a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
It’s a Kind of Magic: Exploring Multisensorial Modulation of the Sense of Self through Bodily Movements and Action Observation in Depersonalisation
Date: 30th November 2022 Speaker: Angelia Caparco, Co-Embodied Self (CEL) Lab of the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Portugal Abstract: In ordinary daily life, subjective experience is characterised by a cohesive sense of self, i.e. the subjective first-personal ‘I’ or ‘self’, bound to the body and distinct from the world and others, and a sense of presence, i.e. the feeling of being immersed in a real-world here and now. In this talk, I will highlight how these fundamental aspects of conscious experience emerge and develop, and how they can be altered in depersonalisation (DP) episodes. DP is characterized by a disturbing change in the quality of subjective conscious experience, which induces alienating feelings of detachment from one’s self, body and the world. These profound alterations of self-awareness impair people’s ability to feel fully present in their lives and to relate to others, causing significant distress and social isolation. Feeling in touch with one’s self and the world may crucially depend on dynamic engagement and reciprocal interactions with our physical and social surroundings. I will conclude by illustrating our interdisciplinary project which will use the ‘Magic Shoes’ device to explore the multisensory modulation of the sense of self and presence through bodily movements and action observation. Making people more aware of their own and others’ bodily movements may counterbalance their feeling of being ‘trapped’ in their heads and increase the feelings of connection with one’s body, the world, and others. Bio: Angelia is a Research Assistant at the Co-Embodied Self (CEL) Lab of the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Portugal. She has a background in Psychology and completed her Master’s in Neuroscience at the University of Padua (Italy) with a thesis on psychophysiological reactivity to cognitive and psychosocial stressors. Successively, she joined the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden Univesity (the Netherlands), where she was involved in different projects investigating the effects of cognitive control policies on social and creative cognition, interoceptive processing, and emotional mimicry. In her current work at the CELlab, she combines theories of embodied cognition and psychophysiological methods to explore how our sense of self and presence is shaped through multisensory bodily signals and social interactions. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
Understanding human affect through non-verbal cues
Date: 16th November 2022, Speaker: Prof. David Masip, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, AI-WELL laboratory. Abstract: Humans communicate our emotions using non-verbal language. One of the most studied affective computing informational cues is the analysis of facial expressions. Nevertheless, faces convey far more information than the 6 classical emotions defined in psychology. In this talk, I will introduce two research ideas developed in the Ai-Well group: Attitudes prediction from (very) subtle spontaneous facial expressions in short videos, where we try to predict the binary preferences from covert videos of the observer’s faces. Perception of personality traits from videos, where we explore the feasibility of predicting the “Big five” personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) from short video interactions. Biography: David Masip is professor in the Computer Science Department at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya since February 2007, and director of the Doctoral School since 2015. He studied Computer Science at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, obtaining an FPI grant in 2001 to start his Ph.D. degree in the Computer Vision Center (Spain). He obtained the Ph.D. degree in September 2005. He obtained the best thesis award in computer science. Previously, he worked as an assistant professor in the Applied Mathematics Department at the Universitat de Barcelona, and in 2013 he was a Research Affiliate at Princeton University. He advised 3 doctoral theses (and 4 ongoing) and participated in 14 research projects, being the PI on 4 of them. He published 28 high-impact journal publications and more than 30 conference papers. His research interests are in computer vision and machine learning, particularly Deep Learning (DL) algorithms applied to Affective Computing and Medical Image Analysis in eHealth. His current projects focus on adding explainable layers to DL, training DL models in small sample size problems (transfer and self-supervised learning), uncertainty modeling in DL, and applications of DL models to Retina Imaging. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
Location specificity of tactile aftereffects
Date: 2 Nov 2022 Speakers: Elena Azañón, Otto von Guericke University Abstract: Adaptation aftereffects can reveal how the nervous system encodes sensory features. We have recently demonstrated that the distance between two tactile events is a property of somatosensation susceptible to adaptation. The reported aftereffects shared several characteristics with low-level visual aftereffects, including orientation and location specificity, pointing to a locus of tactile distance representation early in a bottom-hierarchy of somatosensory processing. Here we focus on this location specificity feature, to better characterize the process by which tactile distance aftereffects operate. In a series of experiments, we applied pairs of pointed tactile stimuli separated by defined distances to one adapting skin region, either on the hand, or on one finger, and tested the magnitude of adaptation aftereffects across adjacent skin regions that did, or did not, cross joint boundaries (i.e., the wrist), or separate body parts (i.e., the fingers). We found a spatial gradient in the magnitude of adaptation aftereffects, both in the mediolateral and proximodistal hand axes, with stronger adaptation aftereffects in the vicinity of the adapting region. Crossing joint boundaries from hand to wrist did not change the magnitude and extent of this gradient. Interestingly, however, the effect of adaptation did not transfer across fingers, even when adapting and tested skin regions had somatotopically adjacent representations (e.g., little and ring fingers). Similar effects were observed during adaptation to textures. Tactile aftereffects thus might provide a psychophysical window onto the distribution, organization, and overlap of tactile receptive fields, specifically with respect to anatomical or functional boundaries between body parts. Bio: I am a psychologist by training. I obtained my PhD on the topic of tactile remapping, at the University of Barcelona under the supervision of Prof Salvador Soto-Faraco (2011). After my PhD, I worked as a Marie Curie Fellowat the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (University College London) with Prof Patrick Haggard, and as a senior Postdoc at Birkbeck, University of London with Prof Matthew Longo. In 2018, I joined the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, with a Dorothea Erxleben Guest Professorship, where I lead the Sensory Lab. I am now working as a research group leader at the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, and at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
Sensorial design: feel, move, interact!
Date: 5 Oct 2022 Speakers: Kristi Kuusk and Dila Demir Abstract: Inspired from the design methods that embody movement-based thinking, we aim for designing with and for the multi-sensory experiences through the moving and the sensing body. We see sensorial design as a design approach that aims to design embodied interactions considering humans as sensory beings which is the combination of the mind and the body. Thus, it is designing with/for/through the sensory body extending further from the classic five senses. Respectively, we work with wide array of senses i.e., proprioception, kinesthesia, audition, touch as well as the sense of touch. In doing so, we work with bodily awareness through multi-sensory interactive wearables. In this meeting we’ll look at sensorial design through design examples from textile and fashion that works with comforting as well as discomforting bodily interactions. Bios: Kristi Kuusk is a Senior researcher at the Design Research Group in Estonian Academy of Arts. She is interested in finding alternative futures for clothing and textile design via implementation of technology. Her PhD thesis (Eindhoven University of Technology, 2016) focused on craft and sustainability qualities in smart textile services. Recently she combines that interest with aspects of sensorial design in the context of self-perception, children play, self and relational awareness. She has collaborated as a selected laureate in the EU projects ‘STARTS Residencies’ and ‘WORTH Partnership Project’. Arife Dila Demir is a doctoral student at the Estonian Academy of Arts and currently she is a visiting Ph.D. student at the Royal Institute of Technology KTH. In her doctoral project, she explores how may movement-based interactive textiles facilitate somaesthetic awareness of bodily discomforts such as chronic pain. She holds a BA in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design and Ma in Textile Design. Dila is involved in somatic practices i.e. yoga and dance improvisation. She interweaves somatic practices with her design research. Her topics of research interests are soma design, somaesthetics, kinesthetic interactions, interactive textiles, autoethnography, and first-person research methods. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.
A review of human movement datasets: from signing to diving by way of walking
Date: 6th June 2022 Speaker: Temitayo Olugbade, University College London Interaction Centre Abstract Data is central to any human-centred scientific and engineering endeavour. Human movement is of particular interest as it is a means of interaction with the world and a modality of expression. For instance, we wiggle, reach, crawl, limp, jump, and in many ways, move as we feel. In this talk, I will give an overview of 704 open human movement datasets that we catalogued across multiple disciplines and also present a framework that emerged from this and highlights critical considerations, including human diversity, for creating (open) movement datasets. Bio Temitayo Olugbade is an applied machine learning postdoctoral researcher at University College London Interaction Centre. She has strong interests in solving problems using AI/ML (machine learning) methods and is particularly interested in automatic interpretation of behaviour and physiological signals for the purpose of tailoring feedback or support. Temi also volunteers on the working group for the IEEE standard being developed for affect aware technologies. If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.