Positive Technology Journal

Frequency of stuttering during challenging and supportive virtual reality job interviews.

J Fluency Disord. 2006 Sep 23;

Authors: Brundage SB, Graap K, Gibbons KF, Ferrer M, Brooks J

This paper seeks to demonstrate the possibility of manipulating the frequency of stuttering using virtual reality environments (VREs). If stuttering manifests itself in VREs similarly to the way it manifests itself in real world interactions, then VREs can provide a controlled, safe, and confidential method for treatment practice and generalization. Though many researchers and clinicians recognize the need for generalization activities in the treatment of stuttering, achieving generalization in a clinical setting poses challenges to client confidentiality, safety, and the efficient use of a professionals' time. Virtual reality (VR) technology may allow professionals the opportunity to enhance and assess treatment generalization while protecting the safety and confidentiality of their clients. In this study, we developed a VR job interview environment which allowed experimental control over communication style and gender of interviewers. In this first trial, persons who stutter (PWS) experienced both challenging and supportive VR job interview conditions. The percentage of stuttered syllables was calculated for both interviews for each participant. Self-reported ratings of communication apprehension and confidence were also obtained, and were not significantly correlated with stuttering severity. Results indicated that interviewer communication style affected the amount of stuttering produced by participants, with more stuttering observed during challenging virtual interviews. Additionally, the amount of stuttering observed during the VR job interviews was significantly, positively correlated with the amount of stuttering observed during an interview with the investigator prior to VR exposure. Participants' subjective reports of the VR experience indicate reactions similar to those they report experiencing in the real world. Possible implications for the use of VR in the assessment and treatment of stuttering are discussed. Educational objectives: After reading this article, the reader will be able to-(1) list some of the challenges to treatment generalization; (2) describe how virtual reality technology can assist in alleviating some of these challenges; (3) describe how the frequency of stuttering varies across two different virtual environments.

Via VR Geek

The Gametrak is a real 3DOF tracker, which can be used with both hands. According to the company, the system is able to calculate the exact position in 3D space, with a spatial resolution of 1 millimetre anywhere within a 3m cube around the unit, with no processor overhead or time delay (that seems quite unrealistic to me, but if they write it...)

Strings attached to the user's hands allows the system to measure the distance and angles from the base item on the ground; these information are used to calculate the x,y, and z coordinates of the hands.

Given these features, the Gametrack system could be effectively applied in post-stroke rehabilitation of the upper limb and in other computer-based programs for neurorehabilitation. In fact, the Gametrack can be easily programmed and adapted to existing applications. Further, the cost of the device is very cheap (about 30€) if compared to other virtual rehabilitation hardware.    

If any Positive Technology reader wishes to try the system for rehabilitation purposes, we would be very interested in knowing the results  

See The Original Gametrak Promotional Video

Via Usability News 

Event Date: 10 October 2006 to 10 October 2006
Behaviour & Information Technology 25th Anniversary Conference

An essential one-day conference with pre-event workshop examining 25 years of usable technology design and current concerns and challenges for usability experts worldwide

10th October 2006, The Grange City Hotel, London

This conference will provide a unique insight into the state of the art of usability design and will review the progress that has been made over the past 25 years in designing usable technology. It will highlight lessons for designers of today’s technology including web sites, games, mobile phones, kiosks, iTV and hand-held devices.

For more information visit www.tandfevents.com/bit 

Via Usability News 

Event Date: 11 September 2006 to 11 September 2006
Patrick Jordan will describe a framework for describing people holistically called 'The Four Pleasures'.
Date: Monday 11th September
Time: 6.30 for 6.45
Venue: Microsoft Research, Cambridge
Cost: The event is FREE and you do not need to be a UK UPA member to attend
Registration: Please email cambridge.usability@gmail.com to reserve a place.

Location map and directions: www.research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/visitmsr/cambridge

An overview:
Products and services should bring pleasure to those who use them and profit to those who create them. To do this effectively they must connect with the consumer in a compelling manner. Effective innovation means designing products that meet both our practical and emotional needs. It speaks to our personalities and values — our hopes, fears, dreams and aspirations. If we are to connect fully with consumers then we have to fully understand them. Having a deep and thorough understanding of people is the key to designing the products and services that people will want to buy and that they will find useful and enjoyable.

This presentation outlines a framework for understanding people holistically. It is called ‘The Four Pleasures’.

This framework has been applied to the design and marketing of many of the world’s most successful products and services across all market types and sectors. It is used by many of the world’s leading brands including: Microsoft, Starbucks, Ford, Nokia, Gillette and Proctor and Gamble.

The ‘four pleasures’ divides human experience and motivation into the following four areas.

Physio-Pleasure: This is to do with the body - pleasures derived from the senses. In the context of products physio-pleasure would cover, for example, tactile and olfactory properties as well as ergonomic issues.
Socio-Pleasure: This is the enjoyment derived from relationships with others. Products and services may help to enhance or facilitate particular social situations and may confer social or cultural status on the user.
Psycho-Pleasure: This type of pleasure refers to people’s cognitive and emotional reactions, including their reactions to the products and services that they use.
Ideo-Pleasure: This concerns people’s values. It is important that the values embodied in products and services are consistent with the values of those for whom they have been designed.

The presentation will be illustrated with many examples of products and services that have been designed using this framework. These have proved to be extremely successful commercially as well as a huge hit with users. By understanding people holistically and designing to meet their needs we can create products and services which will have a significant and positive affect on both individuals and society as a whole. They will be a joy to use and will bring success to those who manufacture and supply them.

Via Nastypixel

SmartRetina is a system that allows to capture the user’s hand gestures and recognize them as computer actions. 

[blogged by Nicolas on pasta and vinegar]

New Scientist has an interview with sociologist and MIT professor Sherry Turkle about how "always-on" communication devices - i.e. instant messaging, Wi-Fi and cellphones - are changing the way people relate to each other.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

For some people, things move from "I have a feeling, I want to call a friend" to "I want to feel something, I need to make a call". In either case, what is not being cultivated is the ability to be alone and to manage and contain one's emotions. When technology brings us to the point where we're used to sharing our thoughts and feelings instantaneously, it can lead to a new dependence, sometimes to the extent that we need others in order to feel our feelings in the first place.

Our new intimacies with our machines create a world where it makes sense to speak of a new state of the self. When someone says "I am on my cell", "online", "on instant messaging" or "on the web", these phrases suggest a new placement of the subject, a subject wired into social existence through technology, a tethered self. I think of tethering as the way we connect to always-on communication devices and to the people and things we reach through them.

 

Continue to read the full interview

Via The Neurodudes

The goal of the project "OpenStim" is to design a simple, safe, effective transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for modulation of emotion, sleep, attention, and other central nervous system properties. TMS system price often exceeds $50.000. The project's team aims to develop a TMS device that will be constructable by a practitioner skilled in electrical engineering, for less than $400.

Also, all the knowledge generated by the project is released under the Creative Commons “Attribution and Sharealike” license. This is a new model for “open source” medical device development — which may move it beyond the domain of simply creating “cool toys,” and to creating real devices.

From the OpenStim website:

The project comprises at least the following 8 components. The logical way to begin is to A) figure out the field geometry desired at the specific depth under the skull, B) design a prototype coil, preferably with standardized values, C) pick the capacitor and resistor adjoining, D) work your way back to the power supply. 1. a reinforced coil (e.g., of copper wire) geometrically appropriate for stimulating the brain (e.g., a figure-8 coil, containing two circular loops, between 3 and 7 cm in diameter),

1b. a testing tank which would hold saline, to mimic the volume conductor of the brain, and thereby permit the electric field to be mapped for various coils and pulse protocols,

2. the control circuitry for charging up a high-capacity capacitor or bank of capacitors, via a power supply

3. mechanical hardware for holding and positioning the coil with respect to the head,

4. safety circuitry that limits the current discharged and the repetition rate of the stimulator,

5. an optional measurement device (e.g., fluxgate magnetometer) to measure the magnetic field induced, and

6. computer software and interface hardware for connecting a computer to the control circuitry, and for displaying hardware status and/or error events.

7. integration with EEG or IR was brought up by many attendees of the session at Foo Camp. The contributors decided this should be built in, a priori.

8. OTHER THOUGHT: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has, like TMS, been shown to improve working memory and mood. Shall we design our TMS device with the capability of doing simultaneous tDCS? It could complicate things somewhat. Hoewver, the methodology is dead simple — apply a DC current across two electrodes, attached to the scalp! system connected to an AC wall source or battery source, and then controlling the discharge of the capacitor into the coil,

Via KurzweilAI.net

 
Olaf Blanke and colleagues at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne have found electrical stimulation of the brain can create the sensation of a "shadow person" mimicking one's bodily movements. 

During a neurological assessment of a woman, doctors stimulated the left temporoparietal junction area of the brain. This stimulation caused her to believe a person was standing behind her. The patient reported that "person" adopted the same bodily positions as her, although she didn't recognize the effect as an illusion. 

The discovery, reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature, might foster the understanding of psychiatric phenomena such as feelings of paranoia, persecution and alien control, Swiss researchers say.

Follow-up study of learning-disabled children treated with neurofeedback or placebo.

Clin EEG Neurosci. 2006 Jul;37(3):198-203

Authors: Becerra J, Fernández T, Harmony T, Caballero MI, García F, Fernández-Bouzas A, Santiago-Rodríguez E, Prado-Alcalá RA

This report is a 2-year follow-up to a previous study describing positive behavioral changes and a spurt of EEG maturation with theta/alpha neurofeedback (NFB) training in a group of Learning Disabled (LD) children. In a control paired group, treated with placebo, behavioral changes were not observed and the smaller maturational EEG changes observed were easily explained by increased age. Two years later, the EEG maturational lag in Control Group children increased, reaching abnormally high theta Relative Power values; the absence of positive behavioral changes continued and the neurological diagnosis remained LD. In contrast, after 2 years EEG maturation did continue in children who belonged to the Experimental Group with previous neurofeedback training; this was accompanied by positive behavioral changes, which were reflected in remission of LD symptoms.

Via WMMNA

Philips Design has prototyped two garments that demonstrate how electronics can be incorporated into fabrics and clothes to express the emotions and personality of the wearer.

Bubelle, the "blushing dress" comprises two layers, the inner one is equipped with sensors that respond to changes in the wearer's emotions and projects them onto the outer textile. It behaves differently depending on who is wearing it. The other prototype is Frison, a body suit that reacts to being blown on by igniting a private constellation of tiny LEDs. Both measure skin signals and change light emission through biometric sensing technology.

Download images here

Read the full press release

22-27 July 2007, Beijing International Convention Center, Beijing, P.R.China

Overview and Areas of Interest:

The HCI International 2007 jointly with the affiliated Conferences, which are held under one management and one Registration, invite you to Beijing, P.R. China to participate and contribute to the international forum for the dissemination and exchange of up-to-date scientific information on theoretical, generic and applied areas of HCI through the following modes of communication: Plenary / Keynote Presentation(s), Parallel Sessions, Poster Sessions and Tutorials. The Conference will start with three days of Tutorials. Parallel Sessions and Poster Sessions will be held during the last three days of the Conference.

Topics:

The Conference focuses on the following major thematic areas:

Human-Computer Interaction
Human Interface and the Management of Information
Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction
Ergonomics and Health Aspects of Work with Computers
Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics
Virtual Reality
Usability and Internationalization
Online Communities and Social Computing
Augmented Cognition
Digital Human Modeling

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy and Standard (in Vivo) Exposure Therapy in the Treatment of Fear of Flying.

Behav Ther. 2006 Mar;37(1):80-90

Authors: Rothbaum BO, Anderson P, Zimand E, Hodges L, Lang D, Wilson J

This controlled clinical trial tested virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy for the fear of flying (FOF), a relatively new and innovative way to do exposure therapy, and compared it to standard (in vivo) exposure therapy (SE) and a wait list (WL) control with a 6- and 12-month follow-up. Eighty-three participants with FOF were randomly assigned to VRE, SE, or WL. Seventy-five participants, 25 per group, completed the study. Twenty-three WL participants completed randomly assigned treatment following the waiting period. Treatment consisted of 4 sessions of anxiety management training followed either by exposure to a virtual airplane (VRE) or an actual airplane at the airport (SE) conducted over 6 weeks. Results indicate that VRE was superior to WL on all measures, including willingness to fly on the posttreatment flight (76% for VRE and SE; 20% for WL). VRE and SE were essentially equivalent on standardized questionnaires, willingness to fly, anxiety ratings during the flight, self-ratings of improvement, and patient satisfaction with treatment. Follow-up assessments at 6 and 12 months indicated that treatment gains were maintained, with more than 70% of respondents from both groups reporting continued flying at follow-up. Based on these findings, the use of VRE in the treatment of FOF was supported in this controlled study, suggesting that experiences in the virtual world can change experiences in the real world.

Pseudoneglect in back space.

Brain Cogn. 2006 Aug 23;

Authors: Cocchini G, Watling R, Sala SD, Jansari A

Successful interaction with the environment depends upon our ability to retain and update visuo-spatial information of both front and back egocentric space. Several studies have observed that healthy people tend to show a displacement of the egocentric frame of reference towards the left. However representation of space behind us (back space) has never been systematically investigated in healthy people. In this study, by means of a novel visual imagery task performed within a virtual reality environment, we found that representation of right back space is perceived as smaller than the left. These results suggest that there is a selective compression or distortion for mental representation related to the right space behind us.

Motion sickness susceptibility.

Auton Neurosci. 2006 Aug 22;

Authors: Golding JF

Motion sickness can be caused by a variety of motion environments (e.g., cars, boats, planes, tilting trains, funfair rides, space, virtual reality) and given a sufficiently provocative motion stimulus almost anyone with a functioning vestibular system can be made motion sick. Current hypotheses of the 'Why?' of motion sickness are still under investigation, the two most important being 'toxin detector' and the 'vestibular-cardiovascular reflex'. By contrast, the 'How?' of motion sickness is better understood in terms of mechanisms (e.g., 'sensory conflict' or similar) and stimulus properties (e.g., acceleration, frequency, duration, visual-vestibular time-lag). Factors governing motion sickness susceptibility may be divided broadly into two groups: (i) those related to the stimulus (motion type and provocative property of stimulus); and (ii) those related to the individual person (habituation or sensitisation, individual differences, protective behaviours, administration of anti-motion sickness drugs). The aim of this paper is to review some of the more important factors governing motion sickness susceptibility, with an emphasis on the personal rather than physical stimulus factors.

Via Mindware

QuitKey is a small portable device that promises to help quit smoking:

J. Neural Eng. 3, 2006, 268-275  

David Guiraud et al.

We present the results of a 5-year patient follow-up after implantation of an original neuroprosthesis. The system is able to stimulate both epimysial and neural electrodes in such a way that the complete flexor–extensor chain of the lower limb can be activated without using the withdrawal reflex. We demonstrate that standing and assisted walking are possible, and the results have remained stable for 5 years. Nevertheless, some problems were noted, particularly regarding the muscle response on the epimysial channels. Analysis of the electrical behaviour and thresholds indicated that the surgical phase is crucial because of the sensitivity of the functional responses to electrode placement. Neural stimulation proved to be more efficient and more stable over time. This mode requires less energy and provides more selective stimulation. This FES system can be improved to enable balanced standing and less fatiguing gait, but this will require feedback on event detection to trigger transitions between stimulation sequences, as well as feedback to the patient about the state of his lower limbs.

By J Liu, SC Cramer and DJ Reinkensmeyer

Context Conditioning and Behavioral Avoidance in a Virtual Reality Environment: Effect of Predictability.

Biol Psychiatry. 2006 Aug 31;

Authors: Grillon C, Baas JM, Cornwell B, Johnson L

BACKGROUND: Sustained anxiety can be modeled using context conditioning, which can be studied in a virtual reality environment. Unpredictable stressors increase context conditioning in animals. This study examined context conditioning to predictable and unpredictable shocks in humans using behavioral avoidance, potentiated startle, and subjective reports of anxiety. METHODS: Subjects were guided through three virtual rooms (no-shock, predictable, unpredictable contexts). Eight-sec duration colored lights served as conditioned stimuli (CS). During acquisition, no shock was administered in the no-shock context. Shocks were paired with the CS in the predictable context and were administered randomly in the unpredictable context. No shock was administered during extinction. Startle stimuli were delivered during CS and between CS to assess cued and context conditioning, respectively. To assess avoidance, subjects freely navigated into two of the three contexts to retrieve money. RESULTS: Startle between CS was potentiated in the unpredictable context compared to the two other contexts. Following acquisition, subjects showed a strong preference for the no-shock context and avoidance of the unpredictable context. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with animal data, context conditioning is increased by unpredictability. These data support virtual reality as a tool to extend research on physiological and behavioral signs of fear and anxiety in humans.