Showing posts with label Cognitive behavioral therapy. Show all posts
Wireless | Personality Indicators for Flow State Susceptibility
Flow is described as almost complete immersion in a task or activity. Previous studies have identified that this intensive involvement leads to lower feelings of self consciousness, allowing concentration on a task to become effortless. Researchers Tain et al. (2017) sought to understand if there are precursors such as personality that would make individuals more susceptible to flow.Video games were the chosen task for inducing participants’ state of flow. Computer moderated environments (CME’s) can provide clear goals and instant feedback important for eliciting flow. It’s also easy to manipulate CME’s difficulty, which was an important variable for the study. The researchers hypothesized higher reported levels of task difficulty and shyness would be identifiable precursors for an individual’s ability at attaining flow state.
Out of 350 potential participants who applied for the study, those who had the 20 highest and lowest scores for self-reported shyness were chosen. Once selected, these participants were then asked to play a 3D Tetris-like game. The participants had to play at three different intervals lasting six minutes, with each interval varying the speed in which the pieces fell for the purpose of manipulating difficulty. While on the computer, ECG signals of each participant were acquired through BIOPAC’s BioNomadix wireless respiration and ECG amplifier. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire asking if they realized how much time had passed. Awareness of time passing allowed for measurement of the amount of flow participants were experiencing. ECG signals and self-reported information were then analyzed, comparing differences between the shy and non-shy groups.
Researchers found significant physiological differences between the two groups. The shy group was seen as having a high heart rate when in flow state, and high levels when completing moderate and difficult tasks. Despite physiological differences, researchers weren’t able to identify shyness as a precursor of flow state. When in flow, participants were found to have increased and deeper respiration, while heart rate and variability stayed moderate. Instead of resulting in an increased amount of mental effort, researchers were able to conclude that flow only required a moderate amount of effort but lead to an increased state of parasympathetic activity.
Being that challenge in the task was induced for the purpose of eliciting anxiety in participants, the authors recommended future experiments should asses the amount of skill the user has before the task is administered. The authors identified that more research should be done in this field examining how different mental and physiological measurements could be telling of flow state.
Wireless │Monitoring and Comparing Speech Rate Processing
Many factors remain unknown on how infants acquire language and speech information in their formative years. In a study, researchers Leong et al., addressed the question of what “neural mechanism” infants use when first being introduced to language that allows for their unique “boot-strap language learning” style (Leong et al, 2017). When identifying the neurological workings of language acquisition in adults, it’s believed adults focus on certain aspects of speech, specifically the syllables and phonemes of general speech. In understanding if infants use this same focus (known as multi-time oscillatory analysis) when speech is directed to them, researchers used and compared wireless electroencephalography (EEG) speech frequency measurements between infants and adults by calculating “Phase-locking values” (PLVs). The findings were categorized based on the different speech rates being received by participants.
The method consisted of 58 participants made up of 29 infants and their mothers, but when testing, 19 of the infant’s researched provided sufficient data. The stimuli participants were processing during the experiment consisted of seven nursery rhymes familiar to both the child and parent. Since this study was to understand if adults and infants use similar neurological mechanisms, the mothers’ and infants’ EEG were recorded simultaneously and later compared results would reflect infant language processing relative to that of adult.
It was recognized that wireless research systems would benefit the accuracy of the study by eliminating uncomfortable, potentially distracting wires around the infants. Utilizing BIOPAC’s BioNomadix dual-channel wireless EEG amplifier paired with MP Research Acquisition System, data from the wireless EEG transmitter was then gathered through AcqKnowledge software, allowing for measurement of the PLVs while participants were processing nursery rhymes.
The results found evidence that infants were actually able to neurologically entrain speech better than adults when the rate was 9.3 Hz and 4.5 Hz, almost equally at 1-2 Hz, and less accurately with lower speech rates 0.5 Hz. The researchers specified that due to the results, future findings could further the understanding of the relationship between neural entrainment and language processing in early infants.Wireless │ Children’s Behavioral Inhibition
RSA is characterized as the rhythmic fluctuations in heart rate associated with the respiratory cycle regulated by the parasympathetic nervous system. In a “basal,” or low-threat situation, RSA slows down the heart to maintain baseline levels. In a “challenge,” or high-threat situation, RSA is suppressed, which results in an increased heart rate and a fight-or-flight response. Thus, a greater control of the parasympathetic nervous system corresponds with high basal RSA (slowed heart rate) and increased adaptability and composure during threatening situations.
In “Children's behavioral inhibition and anxiety disorder symptom severity: The role of individual differences in respiratory sinus arrhythmia ,” an original research article in tech science journal , Behaviour Research and Therapy, Viana, Andres G., et al. explored the ability of RSA to moderate the association between BI and anxiety disorder symptom severity. They investigated RSA response during both a basal situation and challenge situation in the context of clinical anxiety. Participants consisted of forty-four children between the ages of 8 and 12, and their mothers. The first session involved self-report questionnaires and clinical interviews, and the second session involved an experiment with the children in a challenge situation. Using a BIOPAC MP system, the researchers gathered electrocardiogram (ECG) data with a wireless BioNomadix ECG transmitter and receiver. They also measured changes in the subjects’ thoracic circumference with the wireless BioNomadix respiration transducer, and recorded online through AcqKnowledge.
The data collected were analyzed to find RSA mean scores and revealed a positive association between BI and anxiety disorder symptom severity. Children with high levels of BI and low RSA responses to basal and challenge situations were found to have the highest levels of anxiety disorder symptoms. In addition, among children with high RSA responses to basal and challenge situations, the association with BI was non-significant. These findings support the supposition that higher levels of RSA, and ability to control the parasympathetic nervous system, may function to weaken the relationship between BI and anxiety. Thus, higher RSA may be related to an increased ability to regulate psycho-physiological responses and emotion, and act as a buffer against psychopathology.
Evaluation of an mHealth Application for Stress Management | Wireless BIOPAC
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common treatment for people who suffer mental health disorders, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The goal of this treatment is to help reduce many of the symptoms surrounding the patients’ difficulties, including stress, anxiety, and anger. One issue with cognitive behavioral therapy is the subjective nature of the treatment, which often results in high patient dropout rates. Researchers Winslow, et al., proposed an increase in objective, wearable data used during the therapy process in order to lower participant dropout rates. By recording real-time, mobile health data during and after the scheduled sessions, both patient and clinician can monitor mental health symptoms as they occur.Testing
To test this, the researchers recruited 24 male participants who qualified for the study by completing several response-based tests measuring the psychiatric symptoms that characterize mental health disorders. Participants then began an 8-10 week CBT program that included a 60-minute session once a week, a personal log of daily activities, the use of a mobile phone app to indicate stress and set daily reminders, and recorded PPG and EDA data. BIOPAC wireless BioNomadix devices were used to record PPG and EDA data by fitting the devices to participants’ fingers.Despite nine total participants dropping out of the study, researchers determined the amount of therapy sessions completed before drop out by the experimental group was significantly greater than the control group. A similar trend was found in the quantitative physiological data. Stress and other psychiatric factors, measured by heart rate and EDA data, were significantly reduced in the experimental group. Presented with this data, it is realistic to see tangible results in mental health by using mobile health applications and data recording to improve the success of cognitive behavioral therapy. The authors also noted other applications for mobile health data methods. Real-time physiologic data could help military or medical training instructors monitor their trainees’ response to live stimulus sessions. The impact of this improvement may result in tailored lesson plans that increase appropriate resilience training programs before cognitive behavioral therapy is needed.
