Frontal brain asymmetries as effective parameters to assess the quality of audiovisual stimuli perception in adult and young cochlear implant users

How is music perceived by cochlear implant (CI) users? This question arises as "the next step" given the impressive performance obtained by these patients in language perception. Furthermore, how can music perception be evaluated beyond self-report rating, in order to obtain measurable data? To address this question, estimation of the frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha activity imbalance, acquired through a 19-channel EEG cap, appears to be a suitable instrument to measure the approach/withdrawal (AW index) reaction to external stimuli. Specifically, a greater value of AW indicates an increased propensity to stimulus approach, and vice versa a lower one a tendency to withdraw from the stimulus. Additionally, due to prelingually and postlingually deafened pathology acquisition, children and adults, respectively, would probably differ in music perception. The aim of the present study was to investigate children and adult CI users, in unilateral (UCI) and bilateral (BCI) implantation conditions, during three experimental situations of music exposure (normal, distorted and mute). Additionally, a study of functional connectivity patterns within cerebral networks was performed to investigate functioning patterns in different experimental populations. As a general result, congruency among patterns between BCI patients and control (CTRL) subjects was seen, characterised by lowest values for the distorted condition (vs. normal and mute conditions) in the AW index and in the connectivity analysis. Additionally, the normal and distorted conditions were significantly different in CI and CTRL adults, and in CTRL children, but not in CI children. These results suggest a higher capacity of discrimination and approach motivation towards normal music in CTRL and BCI subjects, but not for UCI patients. Therefore, for perception of music CTRL and BCI participants appear more similar than UCI subjects, as estimated by measurable and not self-reported parameters

Psychophysiology-based QoE assessment : a survey

We present a survey of psychophysiology-based assessment for quality of experience (QoE) in advanced multimedia technologies. We provide a classification of methods relevant to QoE and describe related psychological processes, experimental design considerations, and signal analysis techniques. We summarize multimodal techniques and discuss several important aspects of psychophysiology-based QoE assessment, including the synergies with psychophysical assessment and the need for standardized experimental design. This survey is not considered to be exhaustive but serves as a guideline for those interested to further explore this emerging field of research

Opportunities for using eye tracking technology in manufacturing and logistics: Systematic literature review and research agenda

Workers play essential roles in manufacturing and logistics. Releasing workers from routine tasks and enabling them to focus on creative, value-adding activities can enhance their performance and wellbeing, and it is also key to the successful implementation of Industry 4.0. One technology that can help identify patterns of worker-system interaction is Eye Tracking (ET), which is a non-intrusive technology for measuring human eye movements. ET can provide moment-by-moment insights into the cognitive state of the subject during task execution, which can improve our understanding of how humans behave and make decisions within complex systems. It also enables explorations of the subject’s interaction mode with the working environment. Earlier research has investigated the use of ET in manufacturing and logistics, but the literature is fragmented and has not yet been discussed in a literature review yet. This article therefore conducts a systematic literature review to explore the applications of ET, summarise its benefits, and outline future research opportunities of using ET in manufacturing and logistics. We first propose a conceptual framework to guide our study and then conduct a systematic literature search in scholarly databases, obtaining 71 relevant papers. Building on the proposed framework, we systematically review the use of ET and categorize the identified papers according to their application in manufacturing (product development, production, quality inspection) and logistics. Our results reveal that ET has several use cases in the manufacturing sector, but that its application in logistics has not been studied extensively so far. We summarize the benefits of using ET in terms of process performance, human performance, and work environment and safety, and also discuss the methodological characteristics of the ET literature as well as typical ET measures used. We conclude by illustrating future avenues for ET research in manufacturing and logistics

Sing to me, baby: Infants show neural tracking and rhythmic movements to live and dynamic maternal singing

Infant-directed singing has unique acoustic characteristics that may allow even very young infants to respond to the rhythms carried through the caregiver’s voice. The goal of this study was to examine neural and movement responses to live and dynamic maternal singing in 7-month-old infants and their relation to linguistic development. In total, 60 mother-infant dyads were observed during two singing conditions (playsong and lullaby). In Study 1 (n = 30), we measured infant EEG and used an encoding approach utilizing ridge regressions to measure neural tracking. In Study 2 (n =40), we coded infant rhythmic movements. In both studies, we assessed children’s vocabulary when they were 20 months old. In Study 1, we found above-threshold neural tracking of maternal singing, with superior tracking of lullabies than playsongs. We also found that the acoustic features of infant-directed singing modulated tracking. In Study 2, infants showed more rhythmic movement to playsongs than lullabies. Importantly, neural coordination (Study 1) and rhythmic movement (Study 2) to playsongs were positively related to infants’ expressive vocabulary at 20 months. These results highlight the importance of infants’ brain and movement coordination to their caregiver’s musical presentations, potentially as a function of musical variability

Novel methods to evaluate blindsight and develop rehabilitation strategies for patients with cortical blindness

20 à 57 % des victimes d'un accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC) sont diagnostiqués aves des déficits visuels qui réduisent considérablement leur qualité de vie. Parmi les cas extrêmes de déficits visuels, nous retrouvons les cécités corticales (CC) qui se manifestent lorsque la région visuelle primaire (V1) est atteinte. Jusqu'à présent, il n'existe aucune approche permettant d'induire la restauration visuelle des fonctions et, dans la plupart des cas, la plasticité est insuffisante pour permettre une récupération spontanée. Par conséquent, alors que la perte de la vue est considérée comme permanente, des fonctions inconscientes mais importantes, connues sous le nom de vision aveugle (blindsight), pourraient être utiles pour les stratégies de réhabilitation visuelle, ce qui suscite un vif intérêt dans le domaine des neurosciences cognitives. La vision aveugle est un phénomène rare qui dépeint une dissociation entre la performance et la conscience, principalement étudiée dans des études de cas. Dans le premier chapitre de cette thèse, nous avons abordé plusieurs questions concernant notre compréhension de la vision aveugle. Comme nous le soutenons, une telle compréhension pourrait avoir une influence significative sur la réhabilitation clinique des patients souffrant de CC. Par conséquent, nous proposons une stratégie unique pour la réhabilitation visuelle qui utilise les principes du jeu vidéo pour cibler et potentialiser les mécanismes neuronaux dans le cadre de l'espace de travail neuronal global, qui est expliqué théoriquement dans l'étude 1 et décrit méthodologiquement dans l'étude 5. En d'autres termes, nous proposons que les études de cas, en conjonction avec des critères méthodologiques améliorés, puissent identifier les substrats neuronaux qui soutiennent la vision aveugle et inconsciente. Ainsi, le travail de cette thèse a fourni trois expériences empiriques (études 2, 3 et 4) en utilisant de nouveaux standards dans l'analyse électrophysiologique qui décrivent les cas de patients SJ présentant une cécité pour les scènes complexes naturelles affectives et ML présentant une cécité pour les stimuli de mouvement. Dans les études 2 et 3, nous avons donc sondé les substrats neuronaux sous-corticaux et corticaux soutenant la cécité affective de SJ en utilisant la MEG et nous avons comparé ces corrélats à sa perception consciente. L’étude 4 nous a permis de caractériser les substrats de la détection automatique des changements en l'absence de conscience visuelle, mesurée par la négativité de discordance (en anglais visual mismatch negativity : vMMN) chez ML et dans un groupe neurotypique. Nous concluons en proposant la vMMN comme biomarqueur neuronal du traitement inconscient dans la vision normale et altérée indépendante des évaluations comportementales. Grâce à ces procédures, nous avons pu aborder certains débats ouverts dans la littérature sur la vision aveugle et sonder l'existence de voies neurales secondaires soutenant le comportement inconscient. En conclusion, cette thèse propose de combiner les perspectives empiriques et cliniques en utilisant des avancées méthodologiques et de nouvelles méthodes pour comprendre et cibler les substrats neurophysiologiques sous-jacents à la vision aveugle. Il est important de noter que le cadre offert par cette thèse de doctorat pourrait aider les études futures à construire des outils thérapeutiques ciblés efficaces et des stratégies de réhabilitation multimodale.20 to 57% of victims of a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) develop visual deficits that considerably reduce their quality of life. Among the extreme cases of visual deficits, we find cortical blindness (CC) which manifests when the primary visual region (V1) is affected. Until now, there is no approach that induces restoration of visual function and in most cases, plasticity is insufficient to allow spontaneous recovery. Therefore, while sight loss is considered permanent, unconscious yet important functions, known as blindsight, could be of use for visual rehabilitation strategies raising strong interest in cognitive neurosciences. Blindsight is a rare phenomenon that portrays a dissociation between performance and consciousness mainly investigated in case reports. In the first chapter of this thesis, we’ve addressed multiple issues about our comprehension of blindsight and conscious perception. As we argue, such understanding might have a significant influence on clinical rehabilitation patients suffering from CB. Therefore, we propose a unique strategy for visual rehabilitation that uses video game principles to target and potentiate neural mechanisms within the global neuronal workspace framework, which is theoretically explained in study 1 and methodologically described in study 5. In other words, we propose that case reports, in conjunction with improved methodological criteria, might identify the neural substrates that support blindsight and unconscious processing. Thus, the work in this Ph.D. work provided three empirical experiments (studies 2, 3, and 4) that used new standards in electrophysiological analyses as they describe the cases of patients SJ presenting blindsight for affective natural complex scenes and ML presenting blindsight for motion stimuli. In studies 2 and 3, we probed the subcortical and cortical neural substrates supporting SJ’s affective blindsight using MEG as we compared these unconscious correlates to his conscious perception. Study 4 characterizes the substrates of automatic detection of changes in the absence of visual awareness as measured by the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) in ML and a neurotypical group. We conclude by proposing the vMMN as a neural biomarker of unconscious processing in normal and altered vision independent of behavioral assessments. As a result of these procedures, we were able to address certain open debates in the blindsight literature and probe the existence of secondary neural pathways supporting unconscious behavior. In conclusion, this thesis proposes to combine empirical and clinical perspectives by using methodological advances and novel methods to understand and target the neurophysiological substrates underlying blindsight. Importantly, the framework offered by this doctoral dissertation might help future studies build efficient targeted therapeutic tools and multimodal rehabilitation training