”Mine works better” - Examining the influence of embodiment in virtual reality on the sense of agency during a binary motor imagery task with a brain-computer interface

Motor imagery-based brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCI) have been proposed as a means for stroke rehabilitation, which combined with virtual reality allows for introducing game-based interactions into rehabilitation. However, the control of the MI-BCI may be difficult to obtain and users may face poor performance which frustrates them and potentially affects their motivation to use the technology. Decreases in motivation could be reduced by increasing the users' sense of agency over the system. The aim of this study was to understand whether embodiment (ownership) of a hand depicted in virtual reality can enhance the sense of agency to reduce frustration in an MI-BCI task. Twenty-two healthy participants participated in a within-subject study where their sense of agency was compared in two different embodiment experiences: 1) avatar hand (with body), or 2) abstract blocks. Both representations closed with a similar motion for spatial congruency and popped a balloon as a result. The hand/blocks were controlled through an online MI-BCI. Each condition consisted of 30 trials of MI-activation of the avatar hand/blocks. After each condition a questionnaire probed the participants' sense of agency, ownership, and frustration. Afterwards, a semi-structured interview was performed where the participants elaborated on their ratings. Both conditions supported similar levels of MI-BCI performance. A significant correlation between ownership and agency was observed (r = 0.47, p = 0.001). As intended, the avatar hand yielded much higher ownership than the blocks. When controlling for performance, ownership increased sense of agency. In conclusion, designers of BCI-based rehabilitation applications can draw on anthropomorphic avatars for the visual mapping of the trained limb to improve ownership. While not While not reducing frustration ownership can improve perceived agency given sufficient BCI performance. In future studies the findings should be validated in stroke patients since they may perceive agency and ownership differently than able-bodied users

“I Have to Do Something About It” - An Exploration of How Dashboards Invoke Self-Reflections in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients need to track their symptoms for health professionals to adapt treatments in a timely manner in case of health deterioration. Clinicians typically analyzed the tracked data and recommended actions to patients who acted as mere data collectors. Consequently, patients have little agency and motivation to self-track. Two studies investigated how digital dashboards influenced patients’ motivation, agency, and reflections. Study 1 (one week) focused on how five patients used a paper diary to self-track and reflect on their symptoms. Additionally, the patients evaluated a tablet-based digital dashboard using four data visualisations. Study 2 looked at how five patients tracked and reflected on their data using a tablet-based dashboard for two weeks. By using reflective questions to prompt patients to compare and reflect on time series charts with data annotations, patients gained new knowledge about what factors might influence their symptoms and identified actions to improve their health (e.g. increase oxygen supplements). This strengthened their sense of agency and motivated them to participate more in the management of their condition.</p

Identifying Challenges and Opportunities for Intelligent Data-Driven Health Interfaces to Support Ongoing Care

This workshop will explore future work in the area of intelligent, conversational, data-driven health interfaces both from patients’ and health care professionals’ perspectives. We aim to bring together a diverse set of experts and stakeholders to jointly discuss the opportunities and challenges at the intersection of public health care provisioning, patient and caretaker empowerment, monitoring provisioning of health care and its quality. This will require AI-supported, conversational decision-making interfaces that adhere to ethical and privacy standards and address issues around agency, control, engagement, motivation, and accessibility. The goal of the workshop is to create a community around intelligent data-driven interfaces and create a road map for their future research