Search

This study examined the relationship between loneliness levels and daily patterns of mobile keystroke dynamics in healthy individuals. Sixty-six young healthy Koreans participated in the experiment. Over five weeks, the participants used a custom Android keyboard. We divided the participants into four groups based on their level of loneliness (no loneliness, moderate loneliness, severe loneliness, and very severe loneliness). The very severe loneliness group demonstrated significantly higher typing counts during sleep time than the other three groups (one-way ANOVA, F = 3.75, p < 0.05). In addition, the average cosine similarity value of weekday and weekend typing patterns in the very severe loneliness group was higher than that in the no loneliness group (Welch's t-test, t = 2.27, p < 0.05). This meant that the no loneliness group's weekday and weekend typing patterns varied, whereas the very severe loneliness group's weekday and weekend typing patterns did not. Our results indicated that individuals with very high levels of loneliness tended to use mobile keyboards during late-night hours and did not significantly change their smartphone usage behavior between weekdays and weekends. These findings suggest that mobile keystroke dynamics have the potential to be used for the early detection of loneliness and the development of targeted interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive complaints after chemotherapy are common in breast cancer patients, but the neural bases for these complaints remain unclear. This pilot study explored resting-state functional connectivity (FC) as a marker of subtle cognitive changes in breast cancer patients who experience cognitive complaints. Chemotherapy-treated (n = 20, at least 6 months off therapy) and untreated (n = 17, disease-control) female breast cancer patients with cognitive complaints and healthy controls (n = 20) were recruited. The FC of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was calculated, and any correlations between this FC and neuropsychological assessments were determined. Chemotherapy-treated patients with cognitive complaints displayed increased FC between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and both the contralateral cerebellar lobule VII and the cerebellar vermis XI, compared to the disease-control and healthy-control groups, despite unimpaired neuropsychological performance. The increased FC was negatively correlated with executive function and attention in breast cancer survivors with cognitive complaints. Our pilot study findings provide evidence that cerebellar-cortical FC changes may be a pathophysiological basis for chemotherapy-related cognitive complaints. In addition, the FC changes have the potential to reflect minor or compensated cognitive function impairment in breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Feeling sense of full immersion in computer-generated interactive environments often occurs when the user is enjoying the contents and physiologically and behaviorally responding to the events from that world as if they were real. In this state, the individual may feel embodied in the simulated world even more than in the real world. Although the method of interaction could influence this embodied state during immersive experiencing, the brain mechanism has not yet been investigated. Here we directly investigate brain activities related to an embodied state according to the type of interaction. Methods: Our method uses fMRI scanning during interaction with a virtual avatar using a real-action paradigm and using a simple button as a control task. Results: As the results, we observed the parietal lobe's laterality corresponded to the type of interaction, the left parietal lobe for action task and the right one for the button click condition. In addition, there was a correlation between the motor cortex activities and the co-presence score for realaction condition. The parietal lobe's laterality is related to transformation of self egocentrically or allocentrically from a 1st or 3rd person perspective. Conclusions: Our results provide direct evidence for the involvement of a 1st person perspective embodiment process into a simulated world, particularly into self-avatar, when individual experiences involve a more real-action based interaction method. In contrast, when interacting with simple button-click method, the 3rd person perspective simulation process is recruited for the interaction by controlling the self-avatar rather than experience by oneself with the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]