Revealing spatio-spectral electroencephalographic dynamics of musical mode and tempo perception by independent component analysis.

BackgroundMusic conveys emotion by manipulating musical structures, particularly musical mode- and tempo-impact. The neural correlates of musical mode and tempo perception revealed by electroencephalography (EEG) have not been adequately addressed in the literature.MethodThis study used independent component analysis (ICA) to systematically assess spatio-spectral EEG dynamics associated with the changes of musical mode and tempo.ResultsEmpirical results showed that music with major mode augmented delta-band activity over the right sensorimotor cortex, suppressed theta activity over the superior parietal cortex, and moderately suppressed beta activity over the medial frontal cortex, compared to minor-mode music, whereas fast-tempo music engaged significant alpha suppression over the right sensorimotor cortex.ConclusionThe resultant EEG brain sources were comparable with previous studies obtained by other neuroimaging modalities, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). In conjunction with advanced dry and mobile EEG technology, the EEG results might facilitate the translation from laboratory-oriented research to real-life applications for music therapy, training and entertainment in naturalistic environments

Machine learning methods for the study of cybersickness: a systematic review

This systematic review offers a world-first critical analysis of machine learning methods and systems, along with future directions for the study of cybersickness induced by virtual reality (VR). VR is becoming increasingly popular and is an important part of current advances in human training, therapies, entertainment, and access to the metaverse. Usage of this technology is limited by cybersickness, a common debilitating condition experienced upon VR immersion. Cybersickness is accompanied by a mix of symptoms including nausea, dizziness, fatigue and oculomotor disturbances. Machine learning can be used to identify cybersickness and is a step towards overcoming these physiological limitations. Practical implementation of this is possible with optimised data collection from wearable devices and appropriate algorithms that incorporate advanced machine learning approaches. The present systematic review focuses on 26 selected studies. These concern machine learning of biometric and neuro-physiological signals obtained from wearable devices for the automatic identification of cybersickness. The methods, data processing and machine learning architecture, as well as suggestions for future exploration on detection and prediction of cybersickness are explored. A wide range of immersion environments, participant activity, features and machine learning architectures were identified. Although models for cybersickness detection have been developed, literature still lacks a model for the prediction of first-instance events. Future research is pointed towards goal-oriented data selection and labelling, as well as the use of brain-inspired spiking neural network models to achieve better accuracy and understanding of complex spatio-temporal brain processes related to cybersickness

Electrophysiological Studies of Visual Attention and of Emotion Regulation

Electrophysiological methods, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG), measure biological activity that allow us to infer underlying cognitive processes. In the first study, we use EEG to track feature-based attention (FBA), a form of visual attention that helps one detect objects with a particular color, motion, or orientation. We explore the use of SSVEPs, generated by flicker presented peripherally, to track attention in a visual search task presented centrally. Classification results show that one can track an observer’s attended color, which suggests that these methods may provide a viable means for tracking FBA in a real-time task. In the second study, we use cardiovascular measures to examine influences of the emotion regulation strategy of reappraisal. We examine cooperation and cardiovascular responses in individuals that were defected on by their opponent in the first round of an iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma. We find significant differences between the emotion regulation conditions using the biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat, where participants primed with the reappraisal strategy were weakly comparable with a threat state of the BPS model and participants without an emotion regulation were weakly comparable with a challenge state of the BPS model. In the third study, we use EEG to study the chromatic sensitivity of FBA for color during a visual search task. We use SSVEP responses evoked through peripheral flicker to measure the spectral tuning of color detection mechanisms and how attentional selection is affected by distractor color. Our results find smaller responses for the distractor colors and suggest that feature-based attention to a particular color involves chromatic mechanisms that both enhance the response to a target and minimize responses to distractors

Effects of Sensorimotor Perturbations on Balance Performance and Electrocortical Dynamics

Humans must frequently adapt their posture to prevent loss of balance. Such balance control requires complex, precisely-timed coordination among sensory input, neural processing, and motor output. Despite its importance, our current understanding of cortical involvement during balance control remains limited by traditional neuroimaging methods, which are stationary and have poor time resolution. High-density electroencephalography (EEG), combined with independent component analysis, has become a promising tool for recording cortical dynamics during balance perturbations due to its portability and high temporal resolution. Additionally, recent improvements in immersive virtual reality headsets may provide new rehabilitative paradigms, but the effects of virtual reality on balance and cortical function remain poorly understood. In my first study, I recorded high-density EEG from healthy, young adult subjects as they walked along a beam with and without virtual reality high heights exposure. While virtual high heights did induce stress, the use of virtual reality during the task increased performance errors and EEG measures of cognitive loading compared to real-world viewing without a headset. In my second study, I collected high-density EEG from healthy young adults as they walked along a treadmill-mounted balance beam to determine the effect of a transient visual perturbation on training in virtual reality. Subjects in the perturbations group improved comparably to those that trained without virtual reality, indicating that the perturbation helped subjects overcome the negative effects of virtual reality on motor learning. The perturbation primarily elicited a cognitive change. In my third study, healthy, young adult EEG was recorded during physical pull and visual rotation perturbations to tandem walking and tandem standing. I found similar electrocortical patterns for both perturbation types, but different cortical areas were involved for each. In my fourth study, I used a phantom head to validate EEG connectivity methods based on Granger causality in a real-world environment. In general, connectivity measures could determine the underlying connections, but many were susceptible to high-frequency false positives. Using data from my third study, my fifth study analyzed corticomuscular connectivity patterns following sensorimotor balance perturbations. I found strong occipito-parietal connections regardless of perturbation type, along with evidence of direct muscular control from the supplementary motor area during the standing perturbation response. Taken together, the work presented in this dissertation greatly expands upon the current knowledge of cortical processing during sensorimotor balance perturbations and the effect of such perturbations on short-term motor learning, providing multiple avenues for future exploration.PHDBiomedical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147615/1/stepeter_1.pd

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 1

The first issue of the bimonthly digest of USSR Space Life Sciences is presented. Abstracts are included for 49 Soviet periodical articles in 19 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology, published in Russian during the first quarter of 1985. Translated introductions and table of contents for nine Russian books on topics related to NASA's life science concerns are presented. Areas covered include: botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cybernetics and biomedical data processing, endocrinology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, health and medicine, hematology, immunology, life support systems, man machine systems, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, and space biology. This issue concentrates on aerospace medicine and space biology

EVALUATION OF VISUALLY INDUCED MOTION SICKNESS CAUSED BY VIEWING OF 3D STEREOSCOPY USING ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY TECHNIQUE

The 3D movies are attracting the viewers as they see objects flying out of the screen. However, many viewers reportof problems that they face after watching 3D movies. Visual fatigue, eye strain, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision or in other words, Visually Induced Motion Sickness (VIMS) are reported by viewers of 3D movies. In this thesis, we aim to compare a 3D passive technology with a conventional 2D technology to find whether 3D is causing trouble in the viewers or not

Mental imagery of whole-body motion along the sagittal-anteroposterior axis

Whole-body motor imagery is conceptualised as a mental symbolisation directly and indirectly associated with neural oscillations similar to whole-body motor execution. Motor and somatosensory activity, including vestibular activity, is a typical corticocortical substrate of body motion. Yet, it is not clear how this neural substrate is organised when participants are instructed to imagine moving their body forward or backward along the sagittal-anteroposterior axis. It is the aim of the current study to identify the fingerprint of the neural substrate by recording the cortical activity of 39 participants via a 32 electroencephalography (EEG) device. The participants were instructed to imagine moving their body forward or backward from a first-person perspective. Principal Component Analysis (i.e. PCA) applied to the neural activity of whole-body motor imagery revealed neural interconnections mirroring between forward and backward conditions: beta pre-motor and motor oscillations in the left and right hemisphere overshadowed beta parietal oscillations in forward condition, and beta parietal oscillations in the left and right hemisphere overshadowed beta pre-motor and motor oscillations in backward condition. Although functional significance needs to be discerned, beta pre-motor, motor and somatosensory oscillations might represent specific settings within the corticocortical network and provide meaningful information regarding the neural dynamics of continuous whole-body motion. It was concluded that the evoked multimodal fronto-parietal neural activity would correspond to the neural activity that could be expected if the participants were physically enacting movement of the whole-body in sagittal-anteroposterior plane as they would in their everyday environment

Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation towards Visually Induced Motion Sickness Reduction: A Pilot Study

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a novel neuromodulation application for vagal afferent stimulation. Owing to its non-invasive nature, taVNS is a potent therapeutic tool for a diverse array of diseases and disorders that ail us. Herein, we investigated taVNS-induced effects on neural activity of participants during visually induced motion sickness. 64-channel electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were obtained from 15 healthy participants in a randomized, within-subjects, cross-over design during sham and taVNS conditions. To assess motion sickness severity, we used the motion sickness assessment questionnaire (MSAQ). We observed that taVNS attenuated theta (4-8 Hz) brain activity in the right frontal, right parietal and occipital cortices when compared to sham condition. The total MSAQ scores, and central, peripheral and sopite MSAQ categorical scores were significantly lower after taVNS compared to sham. These findings reveal for the first time the potential therapeutic role of taVNS toward counter-motion sickness, and suggest that taVNS may be reliable in alleviating symptoms of motion sickness in real-time, non-pharmacologically