Workload-dependent hemispheric asymmetries during the emotion-cognition interaction: a close-to-naturalistic fNIRS study.

Introduction: We investigated brain activation patterns of interacting emotional distractions and cognitive processes in a close-to-naturalistic functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study.

Methods: Eighteen participants engaged in a monitoring-control task, mimicking common air traffic controller requirements. The scenario entailed experiencing both low and high workload, while concurrently being exposed to emotional speech distractions of positive, negative, and neutral valence.

Combining brain-computer interfaces with deep reinforcement learning for robot training: a feasibility study in a simulation environment.

Deep reinforcement learning (RL) is used as a strategy to teach robot agents how to autonomously learn complex tasks. While sparsity is a natural way to define a reward in realistic robot scenarios, it provides poor learning signals for the agent, thus making the design of good reward functions challenging. To overcome this challenge learning from human feedback through an implicit brain-computer interface (BCI) is used.

Sleep quality and comfort in fully automated vehicles: A comparison of two seat configurations.

As autonomous driving technology advances, the possibility of using vehicles as sleeping environments becomes increasingly relevant. To investigate the feasibility of this concept, a sleep study was conducted with twelve participants who were given a 4-h opportunity window to sleep in both reclined and flat seat configurations. The evaluation involved both objective measures, including polysomnographic (PSG) data analysis, and subjective measures through questionnaires, assessing sleep quality and comfort.

Decoding Mental Effort in a Quasi-Realistic Scenario: A Feasibility Study on Multimodal Data Fusion and Classification.

Humans' performance varies due to the mental resources that are available to successfully pursue a task. To monitor users' current cognitive resources in naturalistic scenarios, it is essential to not only measure demands induced by the task itself but also consider situational and environmental influences. We conducted a multimodal study with 18 participants (nine female, M = 25.

GAUDIE: Development, validation, and exploration of a naturalistic German AUDItory Emotional database.

Since thoroughly validated naturalistic affective German speech stimulus databases are rare, we present here a novel validated database of speech sequences assembled with the purpose of emotion induction. The database comprises 37 audio speech sequences with a total duration of 92 minutes for the induction of positive, neutral, and negative emotion: comedian shows intending to elicit humorous and amusing feelings, weather forecasts, and arguments between couples and relatives from movies or television series. Multiple continuous and discrete ratings are used to validate the database to capture the time course and variabilities of valence and arousal.

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Psychological Well-Being and Mental Health Based on a German Online Survey.

To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, public health actions have changed the everyday life with an inevitable impact on individuals and their social life. Since intact (socio-)psychological functioning and mental health are protective factors contributing to the immune system and preventing diseases, it is crucial to identify individuals with increased vulnerability. We conducted a German online survey from April until August 2020 investigating health-related, social, behavioral, and psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brain Oscillation Entrainment by Perceptible and Non-perceptible Rhythmic Light Stimulation.

Decades of research in the field of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) have revealed great potential of rhythmic light stimulation for brain-computer interfaces. Additionally, rhythmic light stimulation provides a non-invasive method for entrainment of oscillatory activity in the brain. Especially effective protocols enabling non-perceptible rhythmic stimulation and, thereby, reducing eye fatigue and user discomfort are favorable.

Oscillatory EEG Signatures of Affective Processes during Interaction with Adaptive Computer Systems.

Affect monitoring is being discussed as a novel strategy to make adaptive systems more user-oriented. Basic knowledge about oscillatory processes and functional connectivity underlying affect during naturalistic human-computer interactions (HCI) is, however, scarce. This study assessed local oscillatory power entrainment and distributed functional connectivity in a close-to-naturalistic HCI-paradigm.