Brain regions related to trust and affected by PD.

<p>Brain regions related to trust and affected by PD.</p

Parkinson Patients’ Initial Trust in Avatars: Theory and Evidence

<div><p>Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor system and cognitive and behavioral functions. Due to these impairments, PD patients also have problems in using the computer. However, using computers and the Internet could help these patients to overcome social isolation and enhance information search. Specifically, avatars (defined as virtual representations of humans) are increasingly used in online environments to enhance human-computer interaction by simulating face-to-face interaction. Our laboratory experiment investigated how PD patients behave in a trust game played with human and avatar counterparts, and we compared this behavior to the behavior of age, income, education and gender matched healthy controls. The results of our study show that PD patients trust avatar faces significantly more than human faces. Moreover, there was no significant difference between initial trust of PD patients and healthy controls in avatar faces, while PD patients trusted human faces significantly less than healthy controls. Our data suggests that PD patients’ interaction with avatars may constitute an effective way of communication in situations in which trust is required (e.g., a physician recommends intake of medication). We discuss the implications of these results for several areas of human-computer interaction and neurological research.</p></div

Characteristics of the patient and control groups.

<p>Characteristics of the patient and control groups.</p

Visualization of current knowledge of trust research and the contribution of the present study.

<p>Visualization of current knowledge of trust research and the contribution of the present study.</p

Illustration of our version of the trust game.

<p>Notes: The upper value in the square brackets indicates the investor’s payoff (any amount between €0 and 60), the lower value the trustee’s payoff depending on the investor’s first move (investment of €0 or any amount between €1 and 10). When the investor is not sending any money to the trustee (€0) the payoff is €10 for both players. In any other case, the investor’s payoff is dependent on the trustee’s willingness to send some money back. Whereas the investor’s payoff determined the overall gain of the participants in our study, the trustee’s payoff was not paid out, as this role was not played by participants, but was part of the computerized experiment (see Experimental procedure).</p

Results of overall mean investments in games versus avatar faces of PD patients (left) and healthy controls (right).

<p>Results of overall mean investments in games versus avatar faces of PD patients (left) and healthy controls (right).</p

Table_1.PDF

<p>It is not known whether patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) differ from healthy people in decision making under risk, i.e., when the decision-making context offers explicit information about options, probabilities, and consequences already from the beginning. In this study, we adopted the Game of Dice Task-Double to investigate decision making under risk in a group of 36 patients with JME (mean age 25.25/SD 5.29 years) and a group of 38 healthy controls (mean age 26.03/SD 4.84 years). Participants also underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment focused on frontal executive functions. Significant group differences were found in tests of psychomotor speed and divided attention, with the patients scoring lower than the controls. Importantly, patients made risky decisions more frequently than controls. In the patient group, poor decision making was associated with poor executive control, poor response inhibition, and a short interval since the last seizure episode. Executive control and response inhibition could predict 42% of variance in the frequency of risky decisions. This study indicates that patients with JME with poorer executive functions are more likely to make risky decisions than healthy controls. Decision making under risk is of major importance in every-day life, especially with regard to treatment decisions and adherence to long-term medical therapy. Since even a single disadvantageous decision may have long-lasting consequences, this finding is of high relevance.</p

Associations between patient and caregiver related factors and driving status: Results of logistic regression analysis.

<p>Abbreviations: OR = Odds Ratio, CI = Confidence Interval, MMSE = Mini Mental State Examination, CDR = Clinical dementia rating, CERAD = Consortium to establish a registry for Alzheimer’s disease, NPI = Neuropsychiatric Inventory, DAD = Disability Assessment for Dementia, ZBI = Zarit Burden Interview.</p

Significant associations between patient- and caregiver related factors and driving status: Results of univariate statistical analysis.

<p>SD = Standard Deviation, IQR = interquartile range.</p>†<p>Mann-Whitney-U-Test.</p>‡<p>χ² Test. #Student’s t-test. Abbreviations: MMSE = Mini Mental State Examination, CDR = Clinical dementia rating, CERAD = Consortium to establish a registry for Alzheimer’s disease, NPI = Neuropsychiatric Inventory, DAD = Disability Assessment for Dementia, ZBI = Zarit Burden Interview.</p