Nowadays, the growing interest in gathering physiological data and human behavior in everyday lif... more Nowadays, the growing interest in gathering physiological data and human behavior in everyday life scenarios is paralleled by an increase in wireless devices recording brain and body signals. However, the technical issues that characterize these solutions often limit the full brain-related assessments in real-life scenarios. Here we introduce the Biohub platform, a hardware/software (HW/SW) integrated wearable system for multistream synchronized acquisitions. This system consists of off-the-shelf hardware and state-of-art open-source software components, which are highly integrated into a high-tech low-cost solution, complete, yet easy to use outside conventional labs. It flexibly cooperates with several devices, regardless of the manufacturer, and overcomes the possibly limited resources of recording devices. The Biohub was validated through the characterization of the quality of (i) multistream synchronization, (ii) in-lab electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings compared with a m...
The complexity of concurrent cerebral processes underlying driving makes such human behavior one ... more The complexity of concurrent cerebral processes underlying driving makes such human behavior one of the most studied real-world activities in neuroergonomics. Several attempts have been made to decode, both offline and online, cerebral activity during car driving with the ultimate goal to develop brain-based systems for assistive devices. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the cornerstone of these studies providing the highest temporal resolution to track those cerebral processes underlying overt behavior. Particularly when investigating real-world scenarios as driving, EEG is constrained by factors such as robustness, comfortability, and high data variability affecting the decoding performance. Hence, additional peripheral signals can be combined with EEG for increasing replicability and the overall performance of the brain-based action decoder. In this regard, hybrid systems have been proposed for the detection of braking and steering actions in driving scenarios to improve the predi...
Understanding mental processes in complex human behavior is a key issue in driving, representing ... more Understanding mental processes in complex human behavior is a key issue in driving, representing a milestone for developing user-centered assistive driving devices. Here, we propose a hybrid method based on electroencephalographic (EEG) and electromyographic (EMG) signatures to distinguish left and right steering in driving scenarios. Twenty-four participants took part in the experiment consisting of recordings of 128-channel EEG and EMG activity from deltoids and forearm extensors in non-ecological and ecological steering tasks. Specifically, we identified the EEG mu rhythm modulation correlates with motor preparation of self-paced steering actions in the non-ecological task, while the concurrent EMG activity of the left (right) deltoids correlates with right (left) steering. Consequently, we exploited the mu rhythm de-synchronization resulting from the non-ecological task to detect the steering side using cross-correlation analysis with the ecological EMG signals. Results returned...
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2020
Car accidents are considered to be one of the major cause of death all around the world. In order... more Car accidents are considered to be one of the major cause of death all around the world. In order to design electronic devices to improve car safety in the future, we aimed to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) activities to disentangle left from right steering actions in car driving simulation. For this purpose, we performed 128-channels EEG recordings during the driving of a car simulator. EEG scalp topographies resulting from and Independent Component Analysis were clustered across subjects. The corresponding time-frequency patterns of power activity were compared, revealing two distinct EEG clusters reacting with a coupled alpha and beta desynchronization in the preparation of the left and right steering onset, respectively. Topographic maps and dipole localization showed that these EEG components are originated from motor regions of the two hemispheres. Overall, these results illustrate that alpha and beta EEG rhythms could be exploited to predict the driver’s intention in steering actions.
The built environment represents the stage surrounding our everyday life activities. To investiga... more The built environment represents the stage surrounding our everyday life activities. To investigate the impact that architectural features have on individuals’ affective states, we measured their judgments of perceived valence (pleasant and unpleasant) and arousal after the dynamic experience of a progressive change of the environment within virtual decontextualized spaces. To this aim, we developed a parametric model which allowed to create 54 virtual architectural spaces characterized by a progressive change of side walls distance, ceiling and windows height as well as colour of the environment. Decreasing side walls distance, ceiling height variation as well as increasing windows height significantly affected the emotional state of the participants within virtual environments. Indeed, such architectural spaces generated high arousing and unpleasant states according to subjective judgement. Overall, we observed that valence and arousal scores are affected by all the dynamic form f...
The objective of the present work was to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) components in ord... more The objective of the present work was to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) components in order to distinguish between braking and accelerating intention in simulated car driving. To do so, we collected high-density EEG data from thirty participants while they were driving in a car simulator. The EEG was separated into independent components that were clustered across participants according to their scalp map topographies. For each component, time-frequency activity related to braking and acceleration events was determined through wavelet analysis, and the cortical generators were estimated through minimum norm source localisation. Comparisons of the time-frequency patterns of power and phase activations revealed that theta power synchronisation distinguishes braking from acceleration events 800 ms before the action and that phase-locked activity increases for braking 800 ms before foot movement in the theta-alpha frequency range. In addition, source reconstruction showed that t...
Interestingly, the international debate about the quality of music fruition for cochlear implante... more Interestingly, the international debate about the quality of music fruition for cochlear implanted users does not take into account the hypothesis that bilateral users could perceive music in a more pleasant way with respect to monolateral users. In this scenario, the aim of the present study was to investigate if cerebral signs of pleasantness during music perception in healthy child are similar to those observed in monolateral and in bilateral cochlear implanted users. In fact, previous observations in literature on healthy subjects have indicated that variations of the frontal EEG alpha activity are correlated with the perceived pleasantness of the sensory stimulation received (approach-withdrawal theory). In particular, here we described differences between cortical activities estimated in the alpha frequency band for a healthy child and in patients having a monolateral or a bilateral cochlear implant during the fruition of a musical cartoon. The results of the present analysis showed that the alpha EEG asymmetry patterns observed in a healthy child and that of a bilateral cochlear implanted patient are congruent with the approach-withdrawal theory. Conversely, the scalp topographic distribution of EEG power spectra in the alpha band resulting from the monolateral cochlear user presents a different EEG pattern from the normal and bilateral implanted patients. Such differences could be explained at the light of the approach-withdrawal theory. In fact, the present findings support the hypothesis that a monolateral cochlear implanted user could perceive the music in a less pleasant way when compared to a healthy subject or to a bilateral cochlear user.
Neuroaesthetic is a scientific discipline founded more than a decade ago and it refers to the stu... more Neuroaesthetic is a scientific discipline founded more than a decade ago and it refers to the study of the neural bases of beauty perception in art. The aim of this paper is to investigate the neuroelectrical correlates of brain activity of the observation of real paintings showed in a national fine arts gallery (Scuderie del Quirinale) in Rome, Italy. In fact, the present study was designed to examine how motivational factors as indexed by EEG asymmetry over the prefrontal cortex (relative activity of the left and right hemispheres) could be related to the experience of viewing a series of figurative paintings. The fine arts gallery was visited by a group of 25 subjects during an exhibition of the XVII century Dutch painters. Results suggested a strict correlation of the estimated EEG asymmetry with the verbal pleasantness scores reported by the subjects (p<0,05) and an inverse correlation of the perceived pleasantness with the observed painting's surface dimensions (p<0,002).
The perception of the music in cochlear implanted (CI) patients is an important aspect of their q... more The perception of the music in cochlear implanted (CI) patients is an important aspect of their quality of life. In fact, the pleasantness of the music perception by such CI patients can be analyzed through a particular analysis of EEG rhythms. Studies on healthy subjects show that exists a particular frontal asymmetry of the EEG alpha rhythm which can be correlated with pleasantness of the perceived stimuli (approach-withdrawal theory). In particular, here we describe differences between EEG activities estimated in the alpha frequency band for a monolateral CI group of children and a normal hearing one during the fruition of a musical cartoon. The results of the present analysis showed that the alpha EEG asymmetry patterns related to the normal hearing group refers to a higher pleasantness perception when compared to the cerebral activity of the monolateral CI patients. In fact, the present results support the statement that a monolateral CI group could perceive the music in a less pleasant way when compared to normal hearing children.
Dynamic virtual representations of the human being can communicate a broad range of affective sta... more Dynamic virtual representations of the human being can communicate a broad range of affective states through body movements, thus effectively studying emotion perception. However, the possibility of modeling static body postures preserving affective information is still fundamental in a broad spectrum of experimental settings exploring time-locked cognitive processes. We propose a novel automatic method for creating virtual affective body postures starting from kinematics data. Exploiting body features related to postural cues and movement velocity, we transferred the affective components from dynamic walking to static body postures of male and female virtual avatars. Results of two online experiments showed that participants coherently judged different valence and arousal levels in the avatar’s body posture, highlighting the reliability of the proposed methodology. In addition, esthetic and postural cues made women more emotionally expressive than men. Overall, we provided a valid ...
Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of bu... more Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of building design in order to create environments which satisfy man's demands. This can be achieved through the understanding of neurophysiological correlates of architectural perception. To this aim, the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals of 12 healthy subjects were recorded during the perception of three immersive virtual reality environments (VEs). Afterwards, participants were asked to describe their experience in terms of Familiarity, Novelty, Comfort, Pleasantness, Arousal, and Presence using a rating scale from 1 to 9. These perceptual dimensions are hypothesized to influence the pattern of cerebral spectral activity, while Presence is used to assess the realism of the virtual stimulation. Hence, the collected scores were used to analyze the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the EEG for each behavioral dimension in the theta, alpha and mu bands by means of time-frequency analysis and topographic statistical maps. Analysis of Presence resulted in the activation of the frontal-midline theta, indicating the involvement of sensorimotor integration mechanisms when subjects expressed to feel more present in the VEs. Similar patterns also characterized the experience of familiar and comfortable VEs. In addition, pleasant VEs increased the theta power across visuomotor circuits and activated the alpha band in areas devoted to visuospatial exploration and processing of categorical spatial relations. Finally, the de-synchronization of the mu rhythm described the perception of pleasant and comfortable VEs, showing the involvement of left motor areas and embodied mechanisms for environment appreciation. Overall, these results show the possibility to measure EEG correlates of architectural perception involving the cerebral circuits of sensorimotor integration, spatial navigation, and embodiment. These observations can help testing architectural hypotheses in order to design environments matching the changing needs of humans.
Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of bu... more Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of building design in order to create environments which satisfy man's demands. This can be achieved through the understanding of neurophysiological correlates of architectural perception. To this aim, the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals of 12 healthy subjects were recorded during the perception of three immersive virtual reality environments (VEs). Afterwards, participants were asked to describe their experience in terms of Familiarity, Novelty, Comfort, Pleasantness, Arousal, and Presence using a rating scale from 1 to 9. These perceptual dimensions are hypothesized to influence the pattern of cerebral spectral activity, while Presence is used to assess the realism of the virtual stimulation. Hence, the collected scores were used to analyze the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the EEG for each behavioral dimension in the theta, alpha and mu bands by means of time-frequency analysis and topographic statistical maps. Analysis of Presence resulted in the activation of the frontal-midline theta, indicating the involvement of sensorimotor integration mechanisms when subjects expressed to feel more present in the VEs. Similar patterns also characterized the experience of familiar and comfortable VEs. In addition, pleasant VEs increased the theta power across visuomotor circuits and activated the alpha band in areas devoted to visuospatial exploration and processing of categorical spatial relations. Finally, the de-synchronization of the mu rhythm described the perception of pleasant and comfortable VEs, showing the involvement of left motor areas and embodied mechanisms for environment appreciation. Overall, these results show the possibility to measure EEG correlates of architectural perception involving the cerebral circuits of sensorimotor integration, spatial navigation, and embodiment. These observations can help testing architectural hypotheses in order to design environments matching the changing needs of humans.
Nowadays, the growing interest in gathering physiological data and human behavior in everyday lif... more Nowadays, the growing interest in gathering physiological data and human behavior in everyday life scenarios is paralleled by an increase in wireless devices recording brain and body signals. However, the technical issues that characterize these solutions often limit the full brain-related assessments in real-life scenarios. Here we introduce the Biohub platform, a hardware/software (HW/SW) integrated wearable system for multistream synchronized acquisitions. This system consists of off-the-shelf hardware and state-of-art open-source software components, which are highly integrated into a high-tech low-cost solution, complete, yet easy to use outside conventional labs. It flexibly cooperates with several devices, regardless of the manufacturer, and overcomes the possibly limited resources of recording devices. The Biohub was validated through the characterization of the quality of (i) multistream synchronization, (ii) in-lab electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings compared with a m...
The complexity of concurrent cerebral processes underlying driving makes such human behavior one ... more The complexity of concurrent cerebral processes underlying driving makes such human behavior one of the most studied real-world activities in neuroergonomics. Several attempts have been made to decode, both offline and online, cerebral activity during car driving with the ultimate goal to develop brain-based systems for assistive devices. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the cornerstone of these studies providing the highest temporal resolution to track those cerebral processes underlying overt behavior. Particularly when investigating real-world scenarios as driving, EEG is constrained by factors such as robustness, comfortability, and high data variability affecting the decoding performance. Hence, additional peripheral signals can be combined with EEG for increasing replicability and the overall performance of the brain-based action decoder. In this regard, hybrid systems have been proposed for the detection of braking and steering actions in driving scenarios to improve the predi...
Understanding mental processes in complex human behavior is a key issue in driving, representing ... more Understanding mental processes in complex human behavior is a key issue in driving, representing a milestone for developing user-centered assistive driving devices. Here, we propose a hybrid method based on electroencephalographic (EEG) and electromyographic (EMG) signatures to distinguish left and right steering in driving scenarios. Twenty-four participants took part in the experiment consisting of recordings of 128-channel EEG and EMG activity from deltoids and forearm extensors in non-ecological and ecological steering tasks. Specifically, we identified the EEG mu rhythm modulation correlates with motor preparation of self-paced steering actions in the non-ecological task, while the concurrent EMG activity of the left (right) deltoids correlates with right (left) steering. Consequently, we exploited the mu rhythm de-synchronization resulting from the non-ecological task to detect the steering side using cross-correlation analysis with the ecological EMG signals. Results returned...
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2020
Car accidents are considered to be one of the major cause of death all around the world. In order... more Car accidents are considered to be one of the major cause of death all around the world. In order to design electronic devices to improve car safety in the future, we aimed to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) activities to disentangle left from right steering actions in car driving simulation. For this purpose, we performed 128-channels EEG recordings during the driving of a car simulator. EEG scalp topographies resulting from and Independent Component Analysis were clustered across subjects. The corresponding time-frequency patterns of power activity were compared, revealing two distinct EEG clusters reacting with a coupled alpha and beta desynchronization in the preparation of the left and right steering onset, respectively. Topographic maps and dipole localization showed that these EEG components are originated from motor regions of the two hemispheres. Overall, these results illustrate that alpha and beta EEG rhythms could be exploited to predict the driver’s intention in steering actions.
The built environment represents the stage surrounding our everyday life activities. To investiga... more The built environment represents the stage surrounding our everyday life activities. To investigate the impact that architectural features have on individuals’ affective states, we measured their judgments of perceived valence (pleasant and unpleasant) and arousal after the dynamic experience of a progressive change of the environment within virtual decontextualized spaces. To this aim, we developed a parametric model which allowed to create 54 virtual architectural spaces characterized by a progressive change of side walls distance, ceiling and windows height as well as colour of the environment. Decreasing side walls distance, ceiling height variation as well as increasing windows height significantly affected the emotional state of the participants within virtual environments. Indeed, such architectural spaces generated high arousing and unpleasant states according to subjective judgement. Overall, we observed that valence and arousal scores are affected by all the dynamic form f...
The objective of the present work was to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) components in ord... more The objective of the present work was to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) components in order to distinguish between braking and accelerating intention in simulated car driving. To do so, we collected high-density EEG data from thirty participants while they were driving in a car simulator. The EEG was separated into independent components that were clustered across participants according to their scalp map topographies. For each component, time-frequency activity related to braking and acceleration events was determined through wavelet analysis, and the cortical generators were estimated through minimum norm source localisation. Comparisons of the time-frequency patterns of power and phase activations revealed that theta power synchronisation distinguishes braking from acceleration events 800 ms before the action and that phase-locked activity increases for braking 800 ms before foot movement in the theta-alpha frequency range. In addition, source reconstruction showed that t...
Interestingly, the international debate about the quality of music fruition for cochlear implante... more Interestingly, the international debate about the quality of music fruition for cochlear implanted users does not take into account the hypothesis that bilateral users could perceive music in a more pleasant way with respect to monolateral users. In this scenario, the aim of the present study was to investigate if cerebral signs of pleasantness during music perception in healthy child are similar to those observed in monolateral and in bilateral cochlear implanted users. In fact, previous observations in literature on healthy subjects have indicated that variations of the frontal EEG alpha activity are correlated with the perceived pleasantness of the sensory stimulation received (approach-withdrawal theory). In particular, here we described differences between cortical activities estimated in the alpha frequency band for a healthy child and in patients having a monolateral or a bilateral cochlear implant during the fruition of a musical cartoon. The results of the present analysis showed that the alpha EEG asymmetry patterns observed in a healthy child and that of a bilateral cochlear implanted patient are congruent with the approach-withdrawal theory. Conversely, the scalp topographic distribution of EEG power spectra in the alpha band resulting from the monolateral cochlear user presents a different EEG pattern from the normal and bilateral implanted patients. Such differences could be explained at the light of the approach-withdrawal theory. In fact, the present findings support the hypothesis that a monolateral cochlear implanted user could perceive the music in a less pleasant way when compared to a healthy subject or to a bilateral cochlear user.
Neuroaesthetic is a scientific discipline founded more than a decade ago and it refers to the stu... more Neuroaesthetic is a scientific discipline founded more than a decade ago and it refers to the study of the neural bases of beauty perception in art. The aim of this paper is to investigate the neuroelectrical correlates of brain activity of the observation of real paintings showed in a national fine arts gallery (Scuderie del Quirinale) in Rome, Italy. In fact, the present study was designed to examine how motivational factors as indexed by EEG asymmetry over the prefrontal cortex (relative activity of the left and right hemispheres) could be related to the experience of viewing a series of figurative paintings. The fine arts gallery was visited by a group of 25 subjects during an exhibition of the XVII century Dutch painters. Results suggested a strict correlation of the estimated EEG asymmetry with the verbal pleasantness scores reported by the subjects (p<0,05) and an inverse correlation of the perceived pleasantness with the observed painting's surface dimensions (p<0,002).
The perception of the music in cochlear implanted (CI) patients is an important aspect of their q... more The perception of the music in cochlear implanted (CI) patients is an important aspect of their quality of life. In fact, the pleasantness of the music perception by such CI patients can be analyzed through a particular analysis of EEG rhythms. Studies on healthy subjects show that exists a particular frontal asymmetry of the EEG alpha rhythm which can be correlated with pleasantness of the perceived stimuli (approach-withdrawal theory). In particular, here we describe differences between EEG activities estimated in the alpha frequency band for a monolateral CI group of children and a normal hearing one during the fruition of a musical cartoon. The results of the present analysis showed that the alpha EEG asymmetry patterns related to the normal hearing group refers to a higher pleasantness perception when compared to the cerebral activity of the monolateral CI patients. In fact, the present results support the statement that a monolateral CI group could perceive the music in a less pleasant way when compared to normal hearing children.
Dynamic virtual representations of the human being can communicate a broad range of affective sta... more Dynamic virtual representations of the human being can communicate a broad range of affective states through body movements, thus effectively studying emotion perception. However, the possibility of modeling static body postures preserving affective information is still fundamental in a broad spectrum of experimental settings exploring time-locked cognitive processes. We propose a novel automatic method for creating virtual affective body postures starting from kinematics data. Exploiting body features related to postural cues and movement velocity, we transferred the affective components from dynamic walking to static body postures of male and female virtual avatars. Results of two online experiments showed that participants coherently judged different valence and arousal levels in the avatar’s body posture, highlighting the reliability of the proposed methodology. In addition, esthetic and postural cues made women more emotionally expressive than men. Overall, we provided a valid ...
Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of bu... more Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of building design in order to create environments which satisfy man's demands. This can be achieved through the understanding of neurophysiological correlates of architectural perception. To this aim, the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals of 12 healthy subjects were recorded during the perception of three immersive virtual reality environments (VEs). Afterwards, participants were asked to describe their experience in terms of Familiarity, Novelty, Comfort, Pleasantness, Arousal, and Presence using a rating scale from 1 to 9. These perceptual dimensions are hypothesized to influence the pattern of cerebral spectral activity, while Presence is used to assess the realism of the virtual stimulation. Hence, the collected scores were used to analyze the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the EEG for each behavioral dimension in the theta, alpha and mu bands by means of time-frequency analysis and topographic statistical maps. Analysis of Presence resulted in the activation of the frontal-midline theta, indicating the involvement of sensorimotor integration mechanisms when subjects expressed to feel more present in the VEs. Similar patterns also characterized the experience of familiar and comfortable VEs. In addition, pleasant VEs increased the theta power across visuomotor circuits and activated the alpha band in areas devoted to visuospatial exploration and processing of categorical spatial relations. Finally, the de-synchronization of the mu rhythm described the perception of pleasant and comfortable VEs, showing the involvement of left motor areas and embodied mechanisms for environment appreciation. Overall, these results show the possibility to measure EEG correlates of architectural perception involving the cerebral circuits of sensorimotor integration, spatial navigation, and embodiment. These observations can help testing architectural hypotheses in order to design environments matching the changing needs of humans.
Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of bu... more Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of building design in order to create environments which satisfy man's demands. This can be achieved through the understanding of neurophysiological correlates of architectural perception. To this aim, the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals of 12 healthy subjects were recorded during the perception of three immersive virtual reality environments (VEs). Afterwards, participants were asked to describe their experience in terms of Familiarity, Novelty, Comfort, Pleasantness, Arousal, and Presence using a rating scale from 1 to 9. These perceptual dimensions are hypothesized to influence the pattern of cerebral spectral activity, while Presence is used to assess the realism of the virtual stimulation. Hence, the collected scores were used to analyze the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the EEG for each behavioral dimension in the theta, alpha and mu bands by means of time-frequency analysis and topographic statistical maps. Analysis of Presence resulted in the activation of the frontal-midline theta, indicating the involvement of sensorimotor integration mechanisms when subjects expressed to feel more present in the VEs. Similar patterns also characterized the experience of familiar and comfortable VEs. In addition, pleasant VEs increased the theta power across visuomotor circuits and activated the alpha band in areas devoted to visuospatial exploration and processing of categorical spatial relations. Finally, the de-synchronization of the mu rhythm described the perception of pleasant and comfortable VEs, showing the involvement of left motor areas and embodied mechanisms for environment appreciation. Overall, these results show the possibility to measure EEG correlates of architectural perception involving the cerebral circuits of sensorimotor integration, spatial navigation, and embodiment. These observations can help testing architectural hypotheses in order to design environments matching the changing needs of humans.
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