EEG Signal Analysis of Writing and Typing between Adults with Dyslexia and Normal Controls

EEG is one of the most useful techniques used to represent behaviours of the brain and helps explore valuable insights through the measurement of brain electrical activity. Hence, plays a vital role in detecting neurological conditions. In this paper, we identify some unique EEG patterns pertaining to dyslexia, which is a learning disability with a neurological origin. Although EEG signals hold important insights of brain behaviours, uncovering these insights are not always straightforward due to its complexity. We tackle this using machine learning and uncover unique EEG signals generated in adults with dyslexia during writing and typing as well as optimal EEG electrodes and brain regions for classification. This study revealed that the greater level of difficulties seen in individuals with dyslexia during writing and typing compared to normal controls are reflected in the brainwave signal patterns

The words of the body: psychophysiological patterns in dissociative narratives

Trauma has severe consequences on both psychological and somatic levels, even affecting the genetic expression and the cell\u2019s DNA repair ability. A key mechanism in the understanding of clinical disorders deriving from trauma is identified in dissociation, as a primitive defense against the fragmentation of the self originated by overwhelming experiences. The dysregulation of the interpersonal patterns due to the traumatic experience and its detrimental effects on the body are supported by influent neuroscientific models such as Damasio\u2019s somatic markers and Porges\u2019 polyvagal theory. On the basis of these premises, and supported by our previous empirical observations on 40 simulated clinical sessions, we will discuss the longitudinal process of a brief psychodynamic psychotherapy (16 sessions, weekly frequency) with a patient who suffered a relational trauma. The research design consists of the collection of self-report and projective tests, pre-post therapy and after each clinical session, in order to assess personality, empathy, clinical alliance and clinical progress, along with the verbatim analysis of the transcripts trough the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set and the Collaborative Interactions Scale. Furthermore, we collected simultaneous psychophysiological measures of the therapeutic dyad: skin conductance and hearth rate. Lastly, we employed a computerized analysis of non-verbal behaviors to assess synchrony in posture and gestures. These automated measures are able to highlight moments of affective concordance and discordance, allowing for a deep understanding of the mutual regulations between the patient and the therapist. Preliminary results showed that psychophysiological changes in dyadic synchrony, observed in body movements, skin conductance and hearth rate, occurred within sessions during the discussion of traumatic experiences, with levels of attunement that changed in both therapist and the patient depending on the quality of the emotional representation of the experience. These results go in the direction of understanding the relational process in trauma therapy, using an integrative language in which both clinical and neurophysiological knowledge may take advantage of each other

Technology in Rehabilitative Interventions for Children

This Special Issue is aimed to offer an overview of studies presenting new rehabilitation approaches addressed to children with neurodevelopmental disorders, designed to enhance the effects of learning processes through the use of new technologies. The contributions of this Special Issue, authored by researchers and clinicians from some of the most valued Italian scientific institutions in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders, can offer some useful data and advice on the use of technology in rehabilitation and telerehabilitation to researchers, rehabilitators, clinicians and pratictioners (psychologists, neuropsychologists, speech therapists, etc.)

Can virtual reality improve dyslexic English students’ reading fluency and their emotional valence towards reading?

Abstract. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to compare whether a text read in a virtual environment improves the reading of English students with dyslexia in terms of fluency compared with a text laid and read on a piece of paper. Furthermore, another interest of this study is to identify how the participants’ emotional valence was aroused while reading. This master’s thesis is done with the help of Lyfta Oy, an EdTech learning company focused on 360º photos and VR learning environment. Moreover, the thesis design is based on a Lyfta’s workshops, were one the participants read an entire passage in VR without difficulties being dyslexic. Two research questions are aimed to be answered during this research: (1) Is there a difference in fluency between reading in virtual reality (VR) and on a piece of paper? And (2) How positive and negative emotions were empathized while reading? The study was carried out in the UK, were 23 Year 7, 8 and 9 students took part of the data collection. During this face, the participants were asked to read two short passages, one in VR and the other on a piece of paper, being video recorded and, they were asked to fill in two questionnaires about their emotions while reading both texts. Afterwards, the number of errors, words read per minute and prosody were quantified based on the videos, to analyze the participants’ fluency (which comprises three elements: (1) accuracy, (2) rate and (3) prosody) and to answer the first research question. The results suggested that there is not enough data to draw statistical difference between VR and paper. To answer the second research question, the questionnaires’ answers were analyzed. The results suggested that there is a statistical difference in terms of prosody and emotional valence between VR and paper. This study could have some implications in school children having dyslexia, since it might boost positive emotional valence and hence boost their motivation to practice their reading skills. Moreover, educational companies might find a motivation to research more in depth in some aspects of this research and create educational products that can beneficiate dyslexic students’ academic achievement. Also, this research could not only have an impact in dyslexic students, but in general education and other students, since the current master’s thesis continues investigating and analyzing issues that are important in the school days and everyday life of students, such as the role of emotions in the classroom and how VR can affect their emotional valence

Do informal caregivers of people with dementia mirror the cognitive deficits of their demented patients?:A pilot study

Recent research suggests that informal caregivers of people with dementia (ICs) experience more cognitive deficits than noncaregivers. The reason for this is not yet clear. Objective: to test the hypothesis that ICs ‘mirror' the cognitive deficits of the demented people they care for. Participants and methods: 105 adult ICs were asked to complete three neuropsychological tests: letter fluency, category fluency, and the logical memory test from the WMS-III. The ICs were grouped according to the diagnosis of their demented patients. One-sample ttests were conducted to investigate if the standardized mean scores (t-scores) of the ICs were different from normative data. A Bonferroni correction was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Results: 82 ICs cared for people with Alzheimer's dementia and 23 ICs cared for people with vascular dementia. Mean letter fluency score of the ICs of people with Alzheimer's dementia was significantly lower than the normative mean letter fluency score, p = .002. The other tests yielded no significant results. Conclusion: our data shows that ICs of Alzheimer patients have cognitive deficits on the letter fluency test. This test primarily measures executive functioning and it has been found to be sensitive to mild cognitive impairment in recent research. Our data tentatively suggests that ICs who care for Alzheimer patients also show signs of cognitive impairment but that it is too early to tell if this is cause for concern or not

Visualization and Interaction Technologies in Serious and Exergames for Cognitive Assessment and Training: A Survey on Available Solutions and Their Validation

Exergames and serious games, based on standard personal computers, mobile devices and gaming consoles or on novel immersive Virtual and Augmented Reality techniques, have become popular in the last few years and are now applied in various research fields, among which cognitive assessment and training of heterogeneous target populations. Moreover, the adoption of Web based solutions together with the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms could bring countless advantages, both for the patients and the clinical personnel, as allowing the early detection of some pathological conditions, improving the efficacy and adherence to rehabilitation processes, through the personalisation of training sessions, and optimizing the allocation of resources by the healthcare system. The current work proposes a systematic survey of existing solutions in the field of cognitive assessment and training. We evaluate the visualization and interaction technologies commonly adopted and the measures taken to fulfil the need of the pathological target populations. Moreover, we analyze how implemented solutions are validated, i.e. The chosen experimental designs, data collection and analysis. Finally, we consider the availability of the applications and raw data to the large community of researchers and medical professionals and the actual application of proposed solutions in the standard clinical practice. Despite the potential of these technologies, research is still at an early stage. Although the recent release of accessible immersive virtual reality headsets and the increasing interest on vision-based techniques for tracking body and hands movements, many studies still rely on non-immersive virtual reality (67.2%), mainly mobile and personal computers, and standard gaming tools for interactions (41.5%). Finally, we highlight that although the interest of research community in this field is increasingly higher, the sharing of dataset (10.6%) and implemented applications (3.8%) should be promoted and the number of healthcare structures which have successfully introduced the new technological approaches in the treatment of their host patients is limited (10.2%)

Annual Report 2014

This document is a compendium of the research activity carried out by the IR3C during the year 2014, and describes its eleven Research Groups of Excellence, the two lines of research, the publications, funded projects, patents, and other activities within this period