Mind and body connection in expert meditators: a computational study based on central and peripheral nervous system

A meditative 'technique' is conceived as a continuum of different affective states involving mind and body jointly. Meditative practices can involve cognitive effort (e.g., focused attention and open-minded techniques), as well as automatic and implicit practices (e.g., transcendental techniques). The NGALSO tantric self-healing meditation technique is a brief, comprehensive meditation technique relying on mind and body connection. In this study, we aimed to investigate the state and the trait neurophysiological correlates of NGALSO meditation practice. First, 19 EEG channels and a 3-lead ECG signal were recorded from 10 expert meditators (more than 7 years of daily meditation) and 10 healthy inexpert participants (controls) who underwent the same meditative procedure. The neuropsychological profiles of experts and controls were compared. Results showed that expert meditators had significantly higher power spectra on alpha, theta and beta, and a higher sympathetic tone with lower parasympathetic tone after meditation. Conversely, the control group had significantly less power spectra on alpha, theta and beta, and a higher parasympathetic tone with lower sympathetic tone after meditation. A machine learning approach also allowed us to classify experts vs. controls correctly by using only EEG Theta bands before or after meditation. ECG results allowed us to show a significantly higher effort by expert meditators vs. controls, thus suggesting that a higher effort is required for this meditation, in line with the principle 'no pain, no gain' in body and mind.

Enjoying art: an evolutionary perspective on the esthetic experience from emotion elicitors

The ubiquity of human art prompted evolutionary psychologists to explore its origins as a potential adaptation to the environment. Here we focus on emotionally charged art and posit that affective affordances embedded into some artworks play a pivotal role in explaining why these artworks are enjoyed from an evolutionary perspective. Such features, recurring in various art forms, are interpreted as cues to the emotional state of others, enabling art consumers to engage in empathetic experiences and vicarious emotions. We explore the adaptive value of deriving pleasure from vicarious emotions, while also addressing the seemingly counterintuitive enjoyment of artworks that evoke negative emotions. We discuss the appreciation of vicarious emotions irrespective of their valence and maintain this appreciation to hold adaptive significance for three key reasons. Firstly, it aids art consumers in refining their interpretational schemes of internal states, potentially enhancing emotional regulation skills. Secondly, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the emotions of others, thereby fostering emotional intelligence and empathy. Lastly, the enjoyment of affectively charged artworks reinforces social cohesion by harmonizing the emotions of group members. This perspective provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the evolutionary underpinnings of the human capacity for art appreciation and emotional engagement.

Virtual vs. real: exploring perceptual, cognitive and affective dimensions in design product experiences

BACKGROUND

Virtual Reality (VR) has already emerged as an effective instrument for simulating realistic interactions, across various domains. In the field of User Experience (UX), VR has been used to create prototypes of real-world products. Here, the question is to what extent the users' experience of a virtual prototype can be equivalent to that of its real counterpart (the real product). This issue particularly concerns the perceptual, cognitive and affective dimensions of users' experiences.

METHODS

This exploratory study aims to address this issue by comparing the users' experience of a well-known product, i.e., the Graziella bicycle, presented either in Sumerian or Sansar VR platform, or in a physical setting. Participants' Emotional Engagement, Sense of Presence, Immersion, and Perceived Product Quality were evaluated after being exposed to the product in all conditions (i.e., Sumerian, Sansar and Physical).

RESULTS

The findings indicated significantly higher levels of Engagement and Positive Affect in the virtual experiences when compared to their real-world counterparts. Additionally, the sole notable distinction among the VR platforms was observed in terms of Realism.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests the feasibility and potential of immersive VR environments as UX evaluation tools and underscores their effectiveness in replicating genuine real-world experiences.

A unique neuropsychophysiological approach to objectify emotion (dys)regulation in healthy older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

The response of older people to the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted much attention as they are at increased risk of adverse outcomes. A longitudinal study has shown that improvement in global cognitive, executive and language functioning in healthy older adults enrolled at the University of the Third Age appears to play a protective role against emotional dysregulation and mood changes during the pandemic. To date, no study has examined emotional dysregulation through COVID-19-related images using facial electromyographic recordings in healthy older adults. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the relationships between zygomaticus and corrugator reactivity, neuropsychological measures, and the affective dimensions of arousal, dominance, and valence. The results showed an unexpected association between higher zygomaticus activity and higher levels of apathy, depression, and anxiety. In contrast, increased contracture of the corrugator was associated with poorer performance on cognitive tests (global cognition, memory, executive functions) and physical status, i.e., walking speed. These results are consistent with the reappraisal of emotional stimuli in response to the challenges of the pandemic. Interestingly, COVID-19-related stimuli triggered the activation of bottom-up affectivity strategies associated with higher mood levels and interacted with top-down factors that play an important role in the dysregulation of cognitive control.

Mental flexibility assessment: A research protocol for patients with Parkinson's Disease and Anorexia Nervosa

Mental Flexibility oscillates between adaptive variability in behavior and the capacity to restore homeostasis, linked to mental health. It has recently been one of the most investigated abilities in mental and neurological diseases such as Anorexia nervosa and Parkinson's disease, studied for rigidity or cognitive inflexibility. Patients with anorexia nervosa have rigid cognitive processes about food and weight, which leads to restrictive eating and excessive exercise. People who struggle to adapt their cognitive processes and actions to change their diet and exercise habits may have a harder time recovering from the disorder. On the other hand, research suggests that Parkinson's disease patients may have cognitive flexibility impairments that impair their ability to perform daily tasks and adapt to new environments. Although of clinical interest, mental flexibility lacks theoretical liberalization and unified assessment. This study introduces "IntellEGO" a protocol for a new, multidimensional psychometric assessment of flexibility. This assessment evaluates a person's authentic ability to handle daily challenges using cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors. Since traditional assessments often focus on one domain, we aim to examine flexibility from multiple angles, acknowledging the importance of viewing people as whole beings with mental and physical aspects. The study protocol includes two assessment phases separated by a rehabilitation period. T0, the acute phase upon admission, and T1, the post-rehabilitation phase lasting 15 days for Parkinson's patients and 4 weeks for eating disorder patients, will be assessed. Neuropsychological performance, self-report questionnaires, psychophysiological measures, and neuroendocrine measures will be collected from Anorexia Nervosa and Parkinson's Disease patients during each study phase. The objective of this procedure is to provide clinicians with a comprehensive framework for conducting meticulous assessments of mental flexibility. This framework considers emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors, and is applicable to various patient populations.

Outlining a novel psychometric model of mental flexibility and affect dynamics

Theoretically, affective states have always been conceived as complex phenomena enabling individuals to respond flexibly and dynamically to environmental demands. Methodologically, the novel field of Affect Dynamics has started to analyze affective states as inherently dynamic and interdependent phenomena by focusing on how and why they fluctuate over time. Fluctuations of affective states can also be conceived as a function of individuals' ability to flexibly modulate their responses according to environmental demands. However, this ability has been sparsely investigated in different disciplines and domains, thus, engendering a plethora of terms and models. In this conceptual analysis, we first aimed to disentangle the puzzle of flexibility by outlining the distinctive cross-domain features of this concept, thus providing a novel comprehensive operationalization. We termed this novel unitary concept "mental flexibility," the general ability to variably adapt to environmental demands. Then, we outlined the interplay between individuals' mental flexibility and affect dynamics by proposing a novel psychometric model of affect dynamics, using Markovian chain.

Exploring Biomarkers of Mental Flexibility in Healthy Aging: A Computational Psychometric Study

Mental flexibility (MF) has long been defined as cognitive flexibility. Specifically, it has been mainly studied within the executive functions domain. However, there has recently been increased attention towards its affective and physiological aspects. As a result, MF has been described as an ecological and cross-subject skill consisting of responding variably and flexibly to environmental cognitive-affective demands. Cross-sectional studies have mainly focused on samples composed of healthy individual and of patients with chronic conditions such as Mild Cognitive Impairment and Parkinson's, emphasizing their behavioral rigidity. Our study is the first to consider a sample of healthy older subjects and to outline physiological and psychological markers typical of mental flexibility, to identify functional biomarkers associated with successful aging. Our results reveal that biomarkers (respiratory and heart rate variability assessments) distinguished between individuals high vs. low in mental flexibility more reliably than traditional neuropsychological tests. This unveiled the multifaceted nature of mental flexibility composed of both cognitive and affective aspects, which emerged only if non-linear multi-variate analytic approaches, such as Supervised Machine Learning, were used.

Improving Scale Equivalence by Increasing Access to Scale-Specific Information

Measures of the same phenomenon should produce the same results; this principle is fundamental because it allows for replication-the basis of science. Unfortunately, measures of a psychological construct in one language can often measure something a bit different in another language (i.e., low "scale equivalence"). Historically, the problem was thought to stem from insufficient knowledge of best-practice translation procedures. Yet solutions based on this diagnosis and their widespread adoption have not resolved the issue. In this article, we suggest that an additional problem might be insufficient information about the measure being translated. If so, low scale equivalence is a problem that translators and cross-cultural psychologists cannot solve on their own. We explore the possibility that measure-specific translation guides be created by original scale builders for the most widely used measures of important psychological constructs. We describe why such guides are needed, when they are needed, what they might look like, their feasibility, and next steps, providing a complete example guide and test case in a supplement concerning the Primals Inventory. In this article, we seek to spark discussion on translation practices happening behind the scenes and how greater transparency can improve scale equivalence, in the spirit of open science.

The neuropsychology of healthy aging: the positive context of the University of the Third Age during the COVID-19 pandemic

Older adults have been reported to have increased susceptibility to the adverse effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as fatal outcomes, cognitive decline, and changes in physical and/or mental health. However, few studies have examined neuropsychological changes by comparing measurements before and during the pandemic in healthy older people. In addition, no longitudinal studies have examined whether older adults may have responded positively to the pandemic. We examined these issues through a 2-year neuropsychological study before and during the pandemic period. Results showed that scores before and during the pandemic were the same in memory and attention, whereas global cognitive, executive, and language functions improved. Participants also showed no longitudinal changes in depression, hypomania, and disinhibition, while apathy and, to a lesser extent, anxiety increased significantly. To examine possible signs of pandemic-related emotional (dys)regulation, subjects were shown images at follow-up that recalled the most dramatic lockdown phase while heart rate variability was recorded. Higher apathy was predicted by poorer global cognitive performance, increased anxiety, and emotional dysregulation as measured by a higher ratio of low-to-high frequency heart rate variability. Thus, preserved global cognition appears to play a protective role against the effects of pandemic-related anxiety and emotional dysregulation on apathy.

"Standing Up for Earth Rights": Awe-Inspiring Virtual Nature for Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Virtual nature exposure has emerged as an effective method for promoting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, also due to the increased emotional connection with nature itself. However, the role played by complex emotions elicited by virtual nature, such as awe, needs to be fully elucidated. Awe is an emotion stemming from vast stimuli, including nature, and virtual reality (VR) emerged as an effective medium to elicit it. One hundred nineteen participants were exposed to either one of four VR environments: (a) an awe-inspiring virtual nature, (b) a non-natural awe-inspiring virtual scenario, (c) a non-awe-inspiring virtual nature, (d) a non-natural non-awe-inspiring scenario. Pro-environmental attitudes, intentions, discrete emotions, and affect were measured and compared across the different conditions. Two ad hoc tasks were developed to measure two pro-environmental behaviors after each VR exposure. Participants were invited to sign a real petition against plastic production, consumption, and in favor of plastic recycling (a personally engaging behavior), and to take flyers to spread the word on the petition to friends and acquaintances (a socially engaging behavior). Awe-inspiring virtual nature resulted in a significantly increased number of flyers taken by participants (vs. control). Disposition toward the protection of the environment, positive emotional affect, and condition significantly correlated with the number of flyers taken. These results indicated that awe-inspiring virtual nature can influence socially engaging pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors but not personally engaging ones.

Virtual Reality for Awe and Imagination

Empirical research has explored the potential of the emotion of awe to shape creativity, while theoretical work has sought to understand the link between this emotion and transformation in terms of imagining new possible worlds. This branch of study relies on the transformative potential of virtual reality (VR) to examine and invite cognitive and emotional components of transformative experiences (TEs) within the interdisciplinary model of Transformative Experience Design (TED) and the Appraisal-Tendency Framework (ATF). TED suggests using the epistemic and emotional affordances of interactive technologies, such as VR, to invite TEs. The ATF can provide insight into the nature of these affordances and their relationship. This line of research draws on empirical evidence of the awe-creativity link to broaden the discourse and consider the potential impact of this emotion on core beliefs about the world. The combination of VR with these theoretical and design-oriented approaches may enable a new generation of potentially transformative experiences that remind people that they can aspire to more and inspire them to work toward imagining and creating a new possible world.

A post hoc comparison between inpatients with obesity and healthy-weight subjects in the size estimation accuracy of shoulders, waist, and hips widths and circumferences

PURPOSE

This post hoc study aimed to assess the hypothesis that subjects with obesity could underestimate their body size.

METHODS

Data from a previous study with different aims were used to compare 22 female inpatients with obesity with 21 healthy-weight women in the size estimation accuracy of their shoulders, waist, and hips circumferences and widths. The body estimation task with an individualized metric methodology was used to collect data. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Samples differed significantly in the accuracy measures of shoulders width and hips as well as waist circumferences: inpatients with obesity underestimated them, while healthy-weight subjects estimated shoulders width accurately but overestimated their hips and waist circumferences. Multiple regression showed that the between-group difference in the accuracy measure of shoulders width was explained by the individuals' education level, while the difference in the accuracy measure of waist circumference resulted to be independent of both age and education level.

CONCLUSION

This post hoc study supports the hypothesis that female patients with obesity might underestimate their body size. If these results will be confirmed in future studies, interventions specifically designed to equalize estimations to match the real measures of body size may play a key role in weight-reduction programs for people with obesity.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III, evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.

An Exploratory Study on the Effect of Virtual Environments on Cognitive Performances and Psychophysiological Responses

Research shows that reduced exposure to natural contexts is associated with an increase in psychophysical disorders. Recent evidence suggests that even a brief experience in natural scenarios can positively affect people's health and well-being. However, natural contexts are not always easily accessible. This study investigates the effects of natural and indoor virtual environments (VREs) on psychophysiological and cognitive responses. Following a within-subject design, 34 healthy participants were exposed to two VREs (i.e., a forest and a living room) in a counterbalanced order through a head-mounted display (Oculus Rift). Participants were asked to explore the scenarios and execute a modified version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test. Physiological parameters (heart rate, skin conductance level [SCL], and respiration rate) were recorded during the whole session. After the exposure to VREs, participants filled a set of visual analog scales to rate their subjective experience of presence, relaxation, and stress. Participants reported a higher perceived sense of relaxation in the virtual forest. Moreover, their SCLs were significantly higher in this environment, showing that the forest elicited higher physiological arousal than the living room. Furthermore, their SCLs were significantly higher during the attentional task in the virtual living room. The results suggest that a natural virtual environment can make people feel more relaxed and physiologically engaged than an indoor scenario. The latter instead can be linked to a performing venue, as reported for real contexts. However, these changes were not related to modulations of attentional performance.

Defining Transformative Experiences: A Conceptual Analysis

The concept of transformative experience (TE) has been widely explored by several disciplines from philosophy to neurobiology, and in different domains, from the spiritual to the educational one. This attitude has engendered heterogeneous models to explain this phenomenon. However, a consistent and clear understanding of this construct remains elusive. The aim of this work is to provide an initial comprehensive interdisciplinary, cross-domain, up-to-date, and integrated overview on the concept of TEs. Firstly, all the models and theories on TEs were reviewed to extract and analyze TEs’ main components emerging from different disciplines. Then, this preliminary analysis was integrated with an in-depth examination of redundancies and particularities across domains and disciplines, to provide an integrated theoretical framework of TEs and a preliminary interdisciplinary operational definition of TEs. This examination, in turn, can help organize current research and theories, thus providing suggestions for operationalizing TEs as well as encouraging new interdisciplinary research endeavors.

The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Approaching Ageing-Related Design Research and Practice

Despite a rapidly ageing world population, ageism – particularly in its implicit form – is widespread in society. In this article, we propose that a paradigm shift is needed in how we approach ageing-related design research and practice in areas such as assistive technologies. We also put forward the idea of using the Healthy Ageing (HA) framework of the WHO as the basis for new lines actions that can be taken by design researchers and practitioners to address implicit ageism in society through their work.

Machines Like Us and People Like You: Toward Human-Robot Shared Experience

In the past years, the field of collaborative robots has been developing fast, with applications ranging from health care to search and rescue, construction, entertainment, sports, and many others. However, current social robotics is still far from the general abilities we expect in a robot collaborator. This limitation is more evident when robots are faced with real-life contexts and activities occurring over long periods. In this article, we argue that human-robot collaboration is more than just being able to work side by side on complementary tasks: collaboration is a complex relational process that entails mutual understanding and reciprocal adaptation. Drawing on this assumption, we propose to shift the focus from "human-robot interaction" to "human-robot shared experience." We hold that for enabling the emergence of such shared experiential space between humans and robots, constructs such as coadaptation, intersubjectivity, individual differences, and identity should become the central focus of modeling. Finally, we suggest that this shift in perspective would imply changing current mainstream design approaches, which are mainly focused on functional aspects of the human-robot interaction, to the development of architectural frameworks that integrate the enabling dimensions of social cognition.

Using virtual reality to target positive autobiographical memory in individuals with moderate-to-moderately severe depressive symptoms: A single case experimental design

So far, several aspects of autobiographical memory (AM) have been found to be impaired in depression. Among others, depressed patients show the tendency to recall more negative than positive events (i.e., negative bias) and usually retrieve memories that lack of specificity and details (i.e., overgeneral memories). Based on this, we designed an AM task enhanced by the use of virtual reality (VR) to specifically train the recall of positive memories. Using a single-case, multiple baseline experimental design, we explored the effects of a brief intervention consisting of two sessions of this training in a sample of 18 individuals with moderate-to-moderately severe depressive symptoms. According to the results, changes occurred at the short term only. In particular, almost all participants reported a significant improvement in at least one outcome measure 0-3 days after the intervention. However, these clinical gains were not maintained in the mid-term (from day 4 to 10). The present findings do not support the efficacy of our VR-based AM recall treatment as a standalone intervention. Nevertheless, it might represent a suitable procedure to obtain immediate and/or short-term improvements. It might also serve as a valid component to be integrated in broader protocols for patients with moderate-to-moderately severe depressive symptoms.

The Potential Role of Awe for Depression: Reassembling the Puzzle

Recently, interest in the unique pathways linking discrete positive emotions to specific health outcomes has gained increasing attention, but the role of awe is yet to be elucidated. Awe is a complex and transformative emotion that can restructure individuals' mental frames so deeply that it could be considered a therapeutic asset for major mental health major issues, including depression. Despite sparse evidence showing a potential connection between depression and awe, this link has not been combined into a proposal resulting in specific intervention guidelines. The aim of this perspective was three-fold: (i) to provide a new unifying model of awe's functioning-the Matryoshka model; (ii) to show systematic and explicit connections between this emotion and depression; and (iii) to suggest specific guidelines of intervention utilizing the potential therapeutic role of awe for mental health, specifically for depression. This theoretical endeavor in its entirety has been framed within the health domain.

Positive emotion dispositions and emotion regulation in the Italian population

The goal of this large-scale study was to test the relationship between positive emotion dispositions (i.e., Joy, Contentment, Pride, Love, Compassion, Amusement, and Awe) and two strategies of emotion regulation (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) in the Italian population. 532 Italian-speaking adults completed the Dispositional Positive Emotion Scales (DPES), the Positive and Negative Affective Schedule (PANAS), the Italian Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Big-Five Inventory (BFI). DPES scales showed high reliability. Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that a 6-factor model fits the Italian sample better. Joy and Contentment loaded on the same factor. Items assessing the other five emotions loaded on separate factors. The patterns of relationships between positive emotion dispositions, positive and negative affects traits (PANAS), and personality traits (BFI) indicated concurrent validity of the DPES. Twelve separated multiple regression models with BFI and ERQ factors as predictors and DPES factors as response variables showed that Extraversion significantly positively predicted of all DPES emotions. Agreeableness predicted Happiness, Love, Compassion, and Awe positively. Conscientiousness predicted Amusement and Love negatively and Compassion, Pride, and Happiness positively. Neuroticism predicted all emotions negatively except for Compassion. Positive emotions were significantly and positively predicted by reappraisal, and negatively predicted by suppression.

A Review on Research and Evaluation Methods for Investigating Self-Transcendence

Self-transcendence has been characterized as a decrease in self-saliency (ego disillusionment) and increased connection, and has been growing in research interest in the past decade. Several measures have been developed and published with some degree of psychometric validity and reliability. However, to date, there has been no review systematically describing, contrasting, and evaluating the different methodological approaches toward measuring self-transcendence including questionnaires, neurological and physiological measures, and qualitative methods. To address this gap, we conducted a review to describe existing methods of measuring self-transcendence, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these methods, and discuss research avenues to advance assessment of self-transcendence, including recommendations for suitability of methods given research contexts.

Rethinking the Role of Affect in Risk Judgment: What We Have Learned From COVID-19 During the First Week of Quarantine in Italy

Due to COVID-19 spreading in Italy, on March 11 the Prime Minister of Italy declared a lockdown and imposed severe restrictive measures impacting citizens’ freedom at several levels. People were required to stay at home and go out only to satisfy basic needs. Several risk models have postulated a link among online searching behavior, affect, anxiety, and complaints by individuals toward government restrictions (GR), which emerged as also related to an increased perception of knowledge toward risk. However, to date, no study has addressed how these key risk-related aspects (i.e., affect, anxiety, perceived knowledge on risk, and risk dimensions) can act jointly to orient online health information-seeking behavior, and people’s complaints toward GR imposed during the lockdown. This study investigated the mechanisms underlying online health information-seeking behavior and people’s complaints toward the government’s restrictions during a COVID-19 emergency in the Italian population. Drawing from the health belief model (HBM), which postulates a link between sociodemographic variables, risk, and affect dimensions in emergency, we assumed risk factors as predictors of affect and anxiety, which, in turn, were posited as mediators between risk dimensions, online health information-seeking behavior, and complaints toward GR. Participants (1,031) were involved during the first week of the quarantine (March 11–18) and completed an online survey composed of (i) an adapted version of the Italian Risk Perception Questionnaire; (ii) the Italian Positive (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) Schedule (PANAS-10); (iii) the State Anxiety Scale (STAI-Y1); (iv) ad hoc personal knowledge measure about novel coronavirus; (v) ad hoc item measuring information search behavior regarding the novel coronavirus; (vi) ad hoc measure of the complains regarding GR; and (vii) sociodemographic questions. General linear models and structural equation modeling (SEM) were carried out to test the model. Sociodemographic and cognitive factors predicted the participants’ affect and anxiety, which, in turn, motivated and fully mediated both information search behavior and complaint toward GR. This research can offer useful suggestions for policy-makers during the COVID-19 emergency, and it advanced the knowledge on the risk–emotion link in emergency situations.

Digital Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment: Artificial Intelligence Meets Virtual Reality

Elderly people affected by Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) usually report a perceived decline in cognitive functions that deeply impacts their quality of life. This subtle waning, although it cannot be diagnosable as dementia, is noted by caregivers on the basis of their relative’s behaviors. Crucially, if this condition is also not detected in time by clinicians, it can easily turn into dementia. Thus, early detection of MCI is strongly needed. Classical neuropsychological measures – underlying a categorical model of diagnosis - could be integrated with a dimensional assessment approach involving Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). VR can be used to create highly ecologically controlled simulations resembling the daily life contexts in which patients’ daily instrumental activities (IADL) usually take place. Clinicians can record patients’ kinematics, particularly gait, while performing IADL (Digital Biomarkers). Then, Artificial Intelligence employs Machine Learning (ML) to analyze them in combination with clinical and neuropsychological data. This integrated computational approach would enable the creation of a predictive model to identify specific patterns of cognitive and motor impairment in MCI. Therefore, this new dimensional cognitive-behavioral assessment would reveal elderly people’s neural alterations and impaired cognitive functions, typical of MCI and dementia, even in early stages for more time-sensitive interventions.

The Effects of an Ecological Diversifying Experience on Creativity: An Experimental Study

Sometimes, life houses rare and unexpected events, such as moving abroad or meeting a special person unexpectedly. Recently, these situations have been indicated as "diversifying experiences" (DEs), defined as unusual and unexpected events that drag people outside their daily routine and accustomed schemas. The core mechanism of DEs would entail the disruption of our mental schema, which can facilitate unexpected connections among even distant ideas, thus enhancing people's cognitive flexibility, that is, a key component of creative thinking. Despite both qualitative and lab-based studies have investigated the features of these experiences, an ecological assessment of their properties also in relation with creativity is still an open issue. The aim of this research is to study the DE-creativity link in a more ecological way, on the basis of a real-life disruptive experience of light deprivation. Specifically, we compared an ecological DE artistic established entertainment format (i.e., "dialogue in the dark," which is seeing people perform several daily life activities but in the absence of light) with an equivalent experience in which the same activities were acted in the sunlight. The absence of light played the role of violating mechanism, framed within the ecological experiential format of the "dialogue in the dark." We compared visitors' emotional profile [Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), ad hoc Adjective Checklist], perceived impact of the experience [Centrality of Event Scale (CES)], and creative performance [Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)] in both groups of sighted people (in absence of light vs. in presence of light); and we also controlled for people's openness to experience and need for cognitive closure, as dispositions. Results showed that (vs. control group) "dialogue in the dark" (i) led to worse creative performances, (ii) produced more intense positive affect, and (iii) resulted as a more impacting experience. Intense short-term impact of DE could have been detrimental for participants' creativity. People may need more time to elaborate the DE and accommodate existing schema to generate more creative ideas. This is the first study proposing and succeeding in demonstrating the feasibility to investigate even real complex DEs in a controlled way, thus outlining how their link with creativity can take place in real life.

Gulliver's virtual travels: active embodiment in extreme body sizes for modulating our body representations

It is noted that the perceptual experience of body and space can be modulated by changing the action capabilities or by manipulating the perceived body dimensions through a multisensory stimulation. This study adds to pre-existing literature by investigating the alterations in bodily experience following embodiment to both enlarged and shrunked bodies, while participants actively navigated in a virtual environment. A normal-sized body served as a reference condition. After each embodied navigation, participants estimated the height and width of three different body parts. Results revealed that the embodiment over shrunked body induced a significant reduction in participants' body image, while no changes were reported after the embodiment over the enlarged body. Findings were discussed in terms of previous literature exploring the constraints implicated in the ownership over different bodies.

COVID Feel Good-An Easy Self-Help Virtual Reality Protocol to Overcome the Psychological Burden of Coronavirus

BACKGROUND

Living in the time of the COVID-19 means experiencing not only a global health emergency but also extreme psychological stress with potential emotional side effects such as sadness, grief, irritability, and mood swings. Crucially, lockdown and confinement measures isolate people who become the first and the only ones in charge of their own mental health: people are left alone facing a novel and potentially lethal situation, and, at the same time, they need to develop adaptive strategies to face it, at home. In this view, easy-to-use, inexpensive, and scientifically validated self-help solutions aiming to reduce the psychological burden of coronavirus are extremely necessary.

AIMS

This pragmatic trial aims to provide the evidence that a weekly self-help virtual reality (VR) protocol can help overcome the psychological burden of the Coronavirus by relieving anxiety, improving well-being, and reinforcing social connectedness. The protocol will be based on the "Secret Garden" 360 VR video online (www.covidfeelgood.com) which simulates a natural environment aiming to promote relaxation and self-reflection. Three hundred sixty-degree or spherical videos allow the user to control the viewing direction. In this way, the user can explore the content from any angle like a panorama and experience presence and immersion. The "Secret Garden" video is combined with daily exercises that are designed to be experienced with another person (not necessarily physically together), to facilitate a process of critical examination and eventual revision of core assumptions and beliefs related to personal identity, relationships, and goals.

METHODS

This is a multicentric, pragmatic pilot randomized controlled trial involving individuals who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent a lockdown and quarantine procedures. The trial is approved by the Ethics Committee of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano. Each research group in all the countries joining the pragmatic trial, aims at enrolling at least 30 individuals in the experimental group experiencing the self-help protocol, and 30 in the control group, over a period of 3 months to verify the feasibility of the intervention.

CONCLUSION

The goal of this protocol is for VR to become the "surgical mask" of mental health treatment. Although surgical masks do not provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection against the coronavirus compared with FFP2 or FFP3 masks, surgical masks are very effective in protecting others from the wearer's respiratory emissions. The goal of the VR protocol is the same: not necessarily to solve complex mental health problems but rather to improve well-being and preserve social connectedness through the beneficial social effects generated by positive emotions.

When Virtual Feels Real: Comparing Emotional Responses and Presence in Virtual and Natural Environments

Although virtual reality (VR) is increasingly regarded as an effective emotion induction technique, little research has examined whether and how emotions elicited in VR differ from those evoked in real life. To address this question, 50 participants (25 females and 25 males) were exposed to either a real-life contemplative scenario (a panoramic view of a lake) or to an immersive 360° footage of the same landscape. Next, type and valence of emotions, as well as sense of presence reported by participants, were compared across conditions. Findings showed that emotions elicited by virtual and natural conditions were not significantly different. The only exception was anger, which was significantly higher in the natural condition, and amusement, which was significantly higher in the virtual condition. Sense of physical presence and engagement dimensions of presence did not significantly differ between virtual and real conditions. However, different correlation patterns between emotions and key dimensions of presence were found after in vivo and in virtuo exposure. These findings provide initial evidence that emotions and sense of presence elicited by immersive videos are comparable with those evoked by real-life scenarios and warrant further investigations.

Effects of Interpersonal Sensorimotor Synchronization on Dyadic Creativity: Gender Matters

Although it is noted that interpersonal sensorimotor coordination can influence several high-level socio-cognitive processes, its impact on creative collaboration is nearly unexplored. Here, we investigated the effects of a form of sensorimotor coordination, that is, sensorimotor synchronization, on a subsequent creative collaboration task. 60 pairs (n total = 120 participants) formed by previously unacquainted individuals performed a tower-building task either jointly or alone, followed by a dyadic creativity task. Tower building time in the joint condition was recorded through a sensorized platform and creativity performance was evaluated by two independent raters based on the quantity and quality of generated ideas. We controlled for gender composition and for the disposition to cooperate and to adopt a creative, analytical style. Results showed that male-male couples were more creative after the joint-action condition, whereas female-female and mixed-gender couples were more creative after the solo condition. Regression analyses of tower building time on creativity performance revealed that building time was a significant predictor of creativity dimensions in male-male and in mixed-gender couples but did not predict creative performance in female-female couples. Overall, these findings suggest that the manipulation of sensorimotor coordination can influence performance in a subsequent creative collaboration task, with the nature, and magnitude of this effect depending on the gender composition of the dyads. These results have potential implications for the design of sensorimotor-based strategies to enhance dyadic creative performance in several contexts, especially for the organizational settings.

Toward Emotionally Adaptive Virtual Reality for Mental Health Applications

Here, we introduce the design and preliminary validation of a general-purpose architecture for affective-driven procedural content generation in virtual reality (VR) applications in mental health and wellbeing. The architecture supports seven commercial physiological sensing technologies and can be deployed in immersive and non-immersive VR systems. To demonstrate the concept, we developed the "The Emotional Labyrinth," a non-linear scenario in which navigation in a procedurally generated three-dimensional maze is entirely decided by the user, and whose features are dynamically adapted according to a set of emotional states. During navigation, affective states are dynamically represented through pictures, music, and animated visual metaphors chosen to represent and induce affective states. The underlying hypothesis is that exposing users to multimodal representations of their affective states can create a feedback loop that supports emotional self-awareness and fosters more effective emotional regulation strategies. We carried out a first study to, first, assess the effectiveness of the selected metaphors in inducing target emotions, and second, identify relevant psycho-physiological markers of the emotional experience generated by the labyrinth. Results show that the Emotional Labyrinth is overall a pleasant experience in which the proposed procedural content generation can induce distinctive psycho-physiological patterns, generally coherent with the meaning of the metaphors used in the labyrinth design. Furthermore, collected psycho-physiological responses such as electrocardiography, respiration, electrodermal activity, and electromyography are used to generate computational models of users' reported experience. These models enable the future implementation of the closed loop mechanism to adapt the Labyrinth procedurally to the users' affective state.

The Role of Age on Multisensory Bodily Experience: An Experimental Study with a Virtual Reality Full-Body Illusion

A growing body of evidence demonstrated that it is feasible to induce ownership over an artificial body to alter bodily experience. However, several uncharted aspects about full-body illusion applications need to be tackled before a complete exploitation of these methods in clinical practice. This work is devoted to explore possible individual age-related differences in shaping changes in body representations induced with a full-body illusion. A total of 40 women were divided into two different age groups according to the median of the variable age. Participants estimated the width of three different body parts (i.e., shoulders, abdomen, and hips) before the entire illusion was induced (baseline), and after the synchronous and the asynchronous conditions. Results revealed that 26-to-55-year-old participants were more resistant to changes induced by the bodily illusion, whereas 19-to-25-year-old participants underestimated their bodies after both conditions. The findings were discussed in terms of the literature exploring age differences in responses to bodily illusion, which could suggest a Bayesian mechanism underlying these individual differences.

Designing Awe in Virtual Reality: An Experimental Study

Awe is a little-studied emotion with a great transformative potential. Therefore, the interest toward the study of awe's underlying mechanisms has been increased. Specifically, researchers have been interested in how to reproduce intense feelings of awe within laboratory conditions. It has been proposed that the use of virtual reality (VR) could be an effective way to induce awe in controlled experimental settings, thanks to its ability of providing participants with a sense of "presence," that is, the subjective feeling of being displaced in another physical or imaginary place. However, the potential of VR as awe-inducing medium has not been fully tested yet. In the present study, we provided an evidence-based design and a validation of four immersive virtual environments (VEs) involving 36 participants in a within-subject design. Of these, three VEs were designed to induce awe, whereas the fourth VE was targeted as an emotionally neutral stimulus. Participants self-reported the extent to which they felt awe, general affect and sense of presence related to each environment. As expected, results showed that awe-VEs could induce significantly higher levels of awe and presence as compared to the neutral VE. Furthermore, these VEs induced significantly more positive than negative affect. These findings supported the potential of immersive VR for inducing awe and provide useful indications for the design of awe-inspiring virtual environments.

Effectiveness of Immersive Videos in Inducing Awe: An Experimental Study

Awe, a complex emotion composed by the appraisal components of vastness and need for accommodation, is a profound and often meaningful experience. Despite its importance, psychologists have only recently begun empirical study of awe. At the experimental level, a main issue concerns how to elicit high intensity awe experiences in the lab. To address this issue, Virtual Reality (VR) has been proposed as a potential solution. Here, we considered the highest realistic form of VR: immersive videos. 42 participants watched at immersive and normal 2D videos displaying an awe or a neutral content. After the experience, they rated their level of awe and sense of presence. Participants' psychophysiological responses (BVP, SC, sEMG) were recorded during the whole video exposure. We hypothesized that the immersive video condition would increase the intensity of awe experienced compared to 2D screen videos. Results indicated that immersive videos significantly enhanced the self-reported intensity of awe as well as the sense of presence. Immersive videos displaying an awe content also led to higher parasympathetic activation. These findings indicate the advantages of using VR in the experimental study of awe, with methodological implications for the study of other emotions.

The Potential of Virtual Reality for the Investigation of Awe

The emotion of awe is characterized by the perception of vastness and a need for accommodation, which can include a positive and/or negative valence. While a number of studies have successfully manipulated this emotion, the issue of how to elicit particularly intense awe experiences in laboratory settings remains. We suggest that virtual reality (VR) is a particularly effective mood induction tool for eliciting awe. VR provides three key assets for improving awe. First, VR provides users with immersive and ecological yet controlled environments that can elicit a sense of “presence,” the subjective experience of “being there” in a simulated reality. Further, VR can be used to generate complex, vast stimuli, which can target specific theoretical facets of awe. Finally, VR allows for convenient tracking of participants’ behavior and physiological responses, allowing for more integrated assessment of emotional experience. We discussed the potential and challenges of the proposed approach with an emphasis on VR’s capacity to raise the signal of reactions to emotions such as awe in laboratory settings.

A Novel Technique for Improving Bodily Experience in a Non-operable Super-Super Obesity Case

INTRODUCTION

The available clinical guidelines for super-super obese patients (i.e., with body mass index (BMI) > 60 kg/m(2)) that are not suitable for bariatric surgery mandate a palliative multidisciplinary treatment (i.e., production and maintenance of weight loss) provided in a center of excellence. However, the modality and the impact of this approach are still controversial. Moreover, it is not able to address the high level of body dissatisfaction and body distortions that are common among these patients.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION

We report the case of a non-operable super-super obesity - a 37 year old woman with a BMI of 62 kg/m(2) - receiving a specialized treatment for her obstructive sleep apnea. She entered a multidisciplinary program that promoted healthy behaviors, including physical activities and psychological intervention. To improve body dissatisfaction, which was linked to a significant multisensory impairment of body perception, she also entered a virtual reality (VR) body-swapping illusion protocol. At the end of the current investigation, the patient continued her multidisciplinary program, reporting an increase in the motivation for undertaking healthy behavior and a decrease in the anxiety feelings associated with her clinical condition.

CONCLUSION

This case provides preliminary evidence that both body dissatisfaction and body-size distortions of non-operable super-super obesity patients could be addressed by a VR body-swapping protocol, which is important because the palliative multidisciplinary treatment recommended for these patients is not able to address them. Interestingly, the use of a VR body-swapping illusion protocol seems to be able to improve not only the experience of the body in these patients but their motivation for change, too.

Testing Augmented Reality for Cue Exposure in Obese Patients: An Exploratory Study

Binge eating is one of the key behaviors in relation to the etiology and severity of obesity. Cue exposure with response prevention consists of exposing patients to binge foods while actual eating is not allowed. Augmented reality (AR) has the potential to change the way cue exposure is administered, but very few prior studies have been conducted so far. Starting from these premises, this study was aimed to (a) investigate whether AR foods elicit emotional responses comparable to those produced by the real stimuli, (b) study differences between obese and control participants in terms of emotional responses to food, and (c) compare emotional responses to different categories of foods. To reach these goals, we assess in 15 obese (age, 44.6 ± 13 years; body mass index [BMI], 44.2 ± 8.1) and 15 control participants (age, 43.7 ± 12.8 years; BMI, 21.2 ± 1.4) the emotional responses to high-calorie (savory and sweet) and low-calorie food stimuli, presented through different exposure conditions (real, photographic, and AR). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used for the assessment of state anxiety, and it was administered at the beginning and after the exposure to foods, along with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for Hunger and Happiness. To assess the perceived pleasantness, the VAS for Palatability was administered after the exposure to food stimuli. Heart rate, skin conductance response, and facial corrugator supercilii muscle activation were recorded. Although preliminary, the results showed that (a) AR food stimuli were perceived to be as palatable as real stimuli, and they also triggered a similar arousal response; (b) obese individuals showed lower happiness after the exposure to food compared to control participants, with regard to both psychological and physiological responses; and (c) high-calorie savory (vs. low-calorie) food stimuli were perceived by all the participants to be more palatable, and they triggered a greater arousal response.

Positive and Transformative Technologies for Active Ageing

Due to advances in treatment and people's living longer, chronic diseases are becoming more common among our population. This is a leading contributor to the increasing burden on our current healthcare system. To reduce this burden and sufficiently meet the needs of this growing segment of the population, healthcare organizations must encourage the elderly to take a more active role in caring for their own health and well-being. Technology may offer a solution to this shortcoming. "Positive Technology" focuses on the use of technology for improving the quality of our personal experience, and it suggests specific strategies for modifying/improving each of the different dimensions involved - Emotional Quality (affect regulation); Engagement/Actualization (presence and flow); Connectdness (collective intentions and networked flow) - and for generating motivation and engagement in the process. "Transformative Technology" are technologically-mediated experiences that support positive, enduring transformation of the self-world. The transformative content is delivered through a set of experiential affordances, which are stimuli designed to elicit emotional and cognitive involvement in the designed experience: (i) emotional affordances; (ii) epistemic affordances. The paper discusses discuss the possible role of positive and transormative technologies for healthy living and active ageing by presenting different practical applications of this approach recently developed by our team.