Showing posts with label wearable wireless. Show all posts
Wearable | Pitch Perfect Analysis
Pitch determines the level of influence on listener perception, physiological arousal, attention, and memory, according to new research published in Human Communication Research (June 2017). Professors at the Communication Department and Department of Translation and Language Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Institute for Communication Research at Indiana University conducted the joint study to examine intonation’s impact on interpersonal influence with self-report analyses and memory tests.BIOPAC’s BioNomadix helped the researchers discover the psychophysiological signs of comprehension and autonomic arousal. Physiological data aided the researchers in understanding participant attention, offering an objective analysis of the participant’s experience. Each participant identified as female and listened to both narrative and informative commercials, with varying intonation, while wearing BIOPAC’s technology. The participants' retention and cognitive processing suggest that tone does affect interpersonal influence. Commercials, with a unique level of intonation (or the most varying), proved to have the highest standards of influence. The more varying in pitch or tone, the more likely participants were to process and recall information in the commercials. BIOPAC’s BioNomadix allowed the researchers to record wireless EDA from the participants, capturing electrical responses to communication within participants to improve understandings of effective communication. Specifically, BioNomadix wirelessly recorded response data from a wearable transmitter to measure the arousal and attention of participants by capturing their skin conductance response after exposure to stimuli. This type of research will continue evolving media communication and interpersonal influence systems for anyone interested in effective communication strategies. The study’s breakthrough research offers an incentive for further study into the cognitive processing of audio communication.
Facial EMG for Advertising Research
Facial electromyography (FEMG) was compared to the more commonly used EMG in an experimental context to indentify if there is a more accurate approach that can be taken by neurological researchers in the field of advertising. Authors Lajante et al. identified that there are short comings when utilizing EMG to provide insight on the emotional reactions of individuals to advertising content and that other methodological approaches could be beneficial. FEMG represents a closer analysis on subtle facial movements, through which there is the potential of signaling positive and negative emotions in very subtle facial motions or changes.
Comfortably seated in a laboratory setting, participants were fitted with electrodes and warned not to make unnecessary movements. EMG and FEMG were then concurrently monitored while advertisements by eight distinct brands were displayed on a flat screen TV in front of them. After being exposed to the advertisements, participants completed a 9-point self-assessment survey. BIOPAC’s wearable BioNomadix 2ch EMG transmitter was utilized for the purpose of collecting the FEMG signals. These signals were measured through observing specific, responsive muscle movements. Upward movements at the corners of the mouth indicated the Zygomaticus major, responsible for smiling or positive emotional response. Negative emotions were similarly identified through a frowning gesture indicated by eyebrow contractions.
The researchers concluded that while facial EMG provides benefits as a form of measurement, there are extenuating complications with recording. Though it does effectively measure the emotional valence of a participant, there are doubts in the confidence of reliability and validity of the data. Lajante et al. addressed the importance of abiding strictly by the technological and methodological guidelines if considering this new and relatively unexplored area of research. Ultimately this study represents baby steps in exploring an exciting new avenue of research. Facial EMG has the potential of being a more emotionally sensitive approach when further researching and understanding people.Wearable | Visualizing Exercise
Scientists have long used the power of physiological signals to make inferences about cognitive processes. To bridge the gap between physiology and psychology, exercise scientists often find it interesting to look at a person’s encephalographic brain frequencies (EEG) during settings of physical stress, or namely, exercise. Several studies in the past have aimed to evaluate how the mind operates during strenuous training, but what happens when someone just thinks about exercising?
Researchers Berk et al. have recently performed a study in which various athletes were asked to simply sit, close their eyes, and visualize themselves in a state of rest while their brains were monitored for EEG activity. Participants then were asked to visualize themselves in a state of heavy exercise or physical training. The researchers monitored the athletes’ brain EEG signals using a B-Alert X10 Telemetry system. What they found was a significant difference in brain state, primarily shown by the disparity in gamma wave frequency between visualizations of exercise and rest settings. These results suggest that mental visualization of complex physical tasks may support the construction of functional neural networks in the brain necessary for performing them. This study opens the door to subsequent research in order to understand more about the psychology of physical activity. BIOPAC Systems offers the wireless B-Alert X10 EEG system as well as other wearable and wireless solutions for psychophysiological and exercise research. These options include Mobita 32 channel wearable EEG and biopotential systems and the BioNomadix line of wireless biopotential and transducer amplifiers. These products have been consistently proven to provide accurate, reliable data whether the person wearing them is on the field training, or sitting at home just thinking about it.
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.
