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Corona-González CE, Ramos-Flores M, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI, Issa-Garcia V. Psychophysiological evaluation of the Smartick method in children with reading and mathematical difficulties. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1287544. [PMID: 38638806 PMCID: PMC11024347 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1287544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Assistive technologies for learning are aimed at promoting academic skills, such as reading and mathematics. These technologies mainly embrace mobile and web apps addressed to children with learning difficulties. Nevertheless, most applications lack pedagogical foundation. Additionally, the task of selecting suitable technology for educational purposes becomes challenging. Hence, this protocol posits the psychophysiological assessment of an online method for learning (OML) named Smartick. This platform comprises reading and math activities for learning training. In this protocol, individual monitoring of each child is proposed to determine the progress in learning caused by Smartick. Methods and analysis One hundred and twelve children aged between 8 and 12 who present reading or math difficulty after a rigorous psychometric evaluation will be recruited. The study comprises four sessions. In sessions 1 and 2, collective and individual psychometric evaluations will be performed, respectively. Reading and mathematical proficiency will be assessed, as well as attentional levels and intellectual quotient. Subsequently, each child will be semi-randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups. Afterward, a first EEG will be collected for all children in session 3. Then, experimental groups will use Smartick for 3 months, in addition to their traditional learning method. In contrast, control groups will only continue with their traditional learning method. Finally, session 4 will consist of performing a second psychometric evaluation and another EEG, so that psychophysiological parameters can be encountered that indicate learning improvements due to the OML, regardless of the traditional learning method at hand. Discussion Currently, few studies have validated learning improvement due to assistive technologies for learning. However, this proposal presents a psychophysiological evaluation addressed to children with reading or math difficulties who will be trained with an OML.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Moramay Ramos-Flores
- Facultad de Psicología, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
| | | | | | - Victor Issa-Garcia
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Monterrey, Mexico
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Torres-Torres AS, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI, González-Sánchez A. EEG signals from tinnitus sufferers at identifying their sound tinnitus. Data Brief 2024; 53:110142. [PMID: 38357451 PMCID: PMC10864829 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2024.110142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
The present database contains brain activity of subjective tinnitus sufferers at identifying their sound tinnitus. The main objective of this database is to provide spontaneous Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity at rest, and evoked EEG activity when tinnitus sufferers attempt to identify their sound tinnitus among 54 tinnitus sound examples. For the database, 37 volunteers were recruited: 15 ones without tinnitus (Control Group - CG), and 22 ones with tinnitus (Tinnitus Group - TG). For EEG recording, 30 channels were used to record two conditions: 1) basal condition, where the volunteer remained in a state of rest with the open eyes for two minutes; and 2) active condition, where the volunteer must have identified his/her sound stimulus by pressing a key. For the active condition, a sound-tinnitus library was generated in accordance with the most typical acoustic properties of tinnitus. The library consisted in ten pure tones (250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 3 kHz, 3.5 kHz, 4 kHz, 6 kHz, 8 kHz, 10 kHz), a White Noise (WN), a Narrow Band noise-High frequencies (NBH, 4 kHz-10 kHz), a Narrow Band noise-Medium frequencies (NBM,1 kHz-4 kHz), a Narrow-Band noise Low frequencies (NBL, 250 Hz-1 kHz), ten pure tones combined with WN, ten pure tones superimposed with NBH, ten tones with NBM and ten pure tones combined with NBL. In total, 54 sound-tinnitus were applied for both groups. In the case of CG, volunteers must have identified a sound at 3.5 kHz. In addition to EEG information, a csv-file with audiometric and psychoacoustic information of volunteers is provided. For TG, this information refers to: 1) hearing level, 2) type of tinnitus, 3) tinnitus frequency, 4) tinnitus perception, 5) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and 6) Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI). For CG, the information refers to: 1) hearing level, and 2) HADS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alma Socorro Torres-Torres
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, N.L., Mexico
- Department of Neurology, University Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
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Duville MM, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Improved emotion differentiation under reduced acoustic variability of speech in autism. BMC Med 2024; 22:121. [PMID: 38486293 PMCID: PMC10941423 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-024-03341-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Socio-emotional impairments are among the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the actual knowledge has substantiated both altered and intact emotional prosodies recognition. Here, a Bayesian framework of perception is considered suggesting that the oversampling of sensory evidence would impair perception within highly variable environments. However, reliable hierarchical structures for spectral and temporal cues would foster emotion discrimination by autistics. METHODS Event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP) extracted from electroencephalographic (EEG) data indexed the perception of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, neutral, and sadness prosodies while listening to speech uttered by (a) human or (b) synthesized voices characterized by reduced volatility and variability of acoustic environments. The assessment of mechanisms for perception was extended to the visual domain by analyzing the behavioral accuracy within a non-social task in which dynamics of precision weighting between bottom-up evidence and top-down inferences were emphasized. Eighty children (mean 9.7 years old; standard deviation 1.8) volunteered including 40 autistics. The symptomatology was assessed at the time of the study via the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition, and parents' responses on the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales. A mixed within-between analysis of variance was conducted to assess the effects of group (autism versus typical development), voice, emotions, and interaction between factors. A Bayesian analysis was implemented to quantify the evidence in favor of the null hypothesis in case of non-significance. Post hoc comparisons were corrected for multiple testing. RESULTS Autistic children presented impaired emotion differentiation while listening to speech uttered by human voices, which was improved when the acoustic volatility and variability of voices were reduced. Divergent neural patterns were observed from neurotypicals to autistics, emphasizing different mechanisms for perception. Accordingly, behavioral measurements on the visual task were consistent with the over-precision ascribed to the environmental variability (sensory processing) that weakened performance. Unlike autistic children, neurotypicals could differentiate emotions induced by all voices. CONCLUSIONS This study outlines behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms that underpin responses to sensory variability. Neurobiological insights into the processing of emotional prosodies emphasized the potential of acoustically modified emotional prosodies to improve emotion differentiation by autistics. TRIAL REGISTRATION BioMed Central ISRCTN Registry, ISRCTN18117434. Registered on September 20, 2020.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Marie Duville
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur, Col: Tecnológico, Monterrey, N.L, 64700, México.
| | - Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur, Col: Tecnológico, Monterrey, N.L, 64700, México
| | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur, Col: Tecnológico, Monterrey, N.L, 64700, México
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Navas-Reascos G, Wilhelm-deAlba G, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Acoustic Characterization of Edzna: A Measurement Dataset. Sci Data 2023; 10:659. [PMID: 37770457 PMCID: PMC10539318 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02577-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Acoustic characterizations of different locations are necessary to obtain relevant information on their behavior, particularly in the case of places that have not been fully understood or which purpose is still unknown since they are from cultures that no longer exist. Acoustic measurements were conducted in the archaeological zone of Edzna to obtain useful information to better understand the customs and practices of its past inhabitants. The information obtained from these acoustic measurements is presented in a dataset, which includes measurements taken at 32 points around the entire archaeological zone, with special attention given to the Main Plaza, the Great Acropolis, and the Little Acropolis. Two recording systems were used for this purpose: a microphone and a binaural head. As a result, a measurement database with the following characteristics was obtained: it comprises a total of 32 measurement points with 4 different sound source positions. In total, there are 297 files divided into separate folders. The sampling frequency used was 96 kHz, and the files are in mat format.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Navas-Reascos
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey, N.L., 64849, Mexico.
| | - Guillermo Wilhelm-deAlba
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Estudios Mayas, Proyecto Universos Sonoros Mayas, Av. Universidad 3000, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, CDMX, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey, N.L., 64849, Mexico
| | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey, N.L., 64849, Mexico
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Cepeda-Zapata LK, Corona-González CE, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Binaural Beat Effects on Attention: A Study Based on the Oddball Paradigm. Brain Topogr 2023; 36:671-685. [PMID: 37490130 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-023-00990-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
The impact of binaural beats (BBs) on human cognition and behavior remains and various methods have been used to measure their effect, including neurophysiological, psychometric, and human performance evaluations. The few approaches where the level of neural synchronicity and connectivity were measured by neuroimaging techniques have only been undertaken in spontaneous mode. The present research proposes an approach based on the oddball paradigm to study BB effect by estimating the level of attention induced by BBs. Evoked activity of 25 young adults between 19 and 24 years old with no hearing impairments nor clinical neurological history were analyzed. The experiment was conducted in two different sessions of 24.5 min. The first part consisted of 20-min BB stimulation in either theta (BBθ) or beta (BBβ). After the BB stimulation, an oddball paradigm was applied in each BB condition to assess the attentional effect induced by BBs. Attention enhancement is expected for BBβ with respect to BBθ. Target event related potentials (ERPs) were mainly analyzed in the time and time-frequency domains. The frequency analysis was based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT), event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP), and inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC). The study revealed that the P300 component was not significantly different between conditions (BBθ vs. BBβ). However, the target grand average ERP in BBθ condition was mainly composed of 8 Hz-frequency components, appearing before 400 ms post-stimulus, and mainly on the centro-parietal regions. In contrast, the target grand average ERP in BBβ condition was mainly composed of frequency components below 6 Hz, mainly appearing at 400 ms post-stimulus on the parieto-occipital regions. Furthermore, ERPs in the BBθ condition were more phase locked than the BBβ condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Kevin Cepeda-Zapata
- Tecnológico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences Monterrey, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur Col. Tecnológico, CP 64849, Monterrey, NL, Mexico
| | - César E Corona-González
- Tecnológico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences Monterrey, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur Col. Tecnológico, CP 64849, Monterrey, NL, Mexico
| | - Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Tecnológico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences Monterrey, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur Col. Tecnológico, CP 64849, Monterrey, NL, Mexico
| | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Tecnológico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences Monterrey, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur Col. Tecnológico, CP 64849, Monterrey, NL, Mexico.
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Alonso-Valerdi LM. Editorial: Improving decoding of neuroinformation: towards the diversity of neural engineering applications. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1270696. [PMID: 37711224 PMCID: PMC10497864 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1270696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
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Duville MM, Ibarra-Zarate DI, Alonso-Valerdi LM. Autistic traits shape neuronal oscillations during emotion perception under attentional load modulation. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8178. [PMID: 37210415 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35013-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotional content is particularly salient, but situational factors such as cognitive load may disturb the attentional prioritization towards affective stimuli and interfere with their processing. In this study, 31 autistic and 31 typically developed children volunteered to assess their perception of affective prosodies via event-related spectral perturbations of neuronal oscillations recorded by electroencephalography under attentional load modulations induced by Multiple Object Tracking or neutral images. Although intermediate load optimized emotion processing by typically developed children, load and emotion did not interplay in children with autism. Results also outlined impaired emotional integration emphasized in theta, alpha and beta oscillations at early and late stages, and lower attentional ability indexed by the tracking capacity. Furthermore, both tracking capacity and neuronal patterns of emotion perception during task were predicted by daily-life autistic behaviors. These findings highlight that intermediate load may encourage emotion processing in typically developed children. However, autism aligns with impaired affective processing and selective attention, both insensitive to load modulations. Results were discussed within a Bayesian perspective that suggests atypical updating in precision between sensations and hidden states, towards poor contextual evaluations. For the first time, implicit emotion perception assessed by neuronal markers was integrated with environmental demands to characterize autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Marie Duville
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849, Monterrey, NL, México.
| | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849, Monterrey, NL, México
| | - Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849, Monterrey, NL, México
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Duville MM, Corona-González CE, De León RR, Vera AR, Jiménez MSF, Ibarra-Zarate DI, Alonso-Valerdi LM. Perception of task-irrelevant affective prosody by typically developed and diagnosed children with Autism Spectrum Disorder under attentional loads: electroencephalographic and behavioural data. Data Brief 2023; 48:109057. [PMID: 37006385 PMCID: PMC10060595 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The relevance of affective information triggers cognitive prioritisation, dictated by both the attentional load of the relevant task, and socio-emotional abilities. This dataset provides electroencephalographic (EEG) signals related to implicit emotional speech perception under low, intermediate, and high attentional demands. Demographic and behavioural data are also provided. Specific social-emotional reciprocity and verbal communication characterise Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and may influence the processing of affective prosodies. Therefore, 62 children and their parents or legal guardians participated in data collection, including 31 children with high autistic traits (x̄age=9.6-year-old, σage=1.5) who previously received a diagnosis of ASD by a medical specialist, and 31 typically developed children (x̄age=10.2-year-old, σage=1.2). Assessments of the scope of autistic behaviours using the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS, parent report) are provided for every child. During the experiment, children listened to task-irrelevant affective prosodies (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, neutral and sadness) while answering three visual tasks: neutral image viewing (low attentional load), one-target 4-disc Multiple Object Tracking (MOT; intermediate), one-target 8-disc MOT (high). The EEG data recorded during all three tasks and the tracking capacity (behavioural data) from MOT conditions are included in the dataset. Particularly, the tracking capacity was computed as a standardised index of attentional abilities during MOT, corrected for guessing. Beforehand, children answered the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, and resting-state EEG activity of children was recorded for 2 minutes with eyes open. Those data are also provided. The present dataset can be used to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of implicit emotion and speech perceptions and their interaction with attentional load and autistic traits. Besides, resting-state EEG data may be used to characterise inter-individual heterogeneity at rest and, in turn, associate it with attentional capacities during MOT and with autistic behavioural patterns. Finally, tracking capacity may be useful to explore dynamic and selective attentional mechanisms under emotional constraints.
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Zolezzi DM, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. EEG frequency band analysis in chronic neuropathic pain: A linear and nonlinear approach to classify pain severity. Comput Methods Programs Biomed 2023; 230:107349. [PMID: 36689806 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2023.107349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Chronic neuropathic pain (NP) is a chronic pain condition that severely impacts a patient's life. Pain management has proved to be inefficient due to a lack of a simple clinical tool that may identify and monitor NP. A low-cost, noninvasive tool that provides relevant information on NP is the electroencephalogram (EEG). However, the commonly used linear EEG features have proved to be limited in characterizing NP pathophysiology. This study sought to determine whether nonlinear EEG features such as approximate entropy (ApEn) would better differentiate pain severity than absolute band power. METHODS A non-parametric statistical approach based on the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), along with linear and nonlinear EEG features, is proposed in this study. For this purpose, thirty-six chronic NP patients were recruited, and 22 channels were registered. Additionally, a control database of 13 participants with no NP was used as a reference, where 19 channels were registered. For both groups, EEG was recorded for 10 min in a resting state: 5 min with eyes open (EO) and 5 min with eyes closed (EC). Absolute band power and ApEn EEG features in the five clinical frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) were estimated for all channels in both groups. As a result, 220-dimensional and 190-dimensional feature vectors were obtained for experimental and control classes respectively. For the experimental class, NP patients were grouped according to their BPI evaluation in three groups: low, moderate, and high pain. Finally, feature vectors were compared between groups using Kruskal Wallis and post-hoc Dunn's tests. RESULTS ApEn revealed significant statistical difference (p <=0.0001) in most frequency bands and conditions among the groups. In contrast, power had less significant differences between groups, particularly with EO. Furthermore, NP groups were notably clustered using only ApEn in theta, alpha, and beta bands. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that ApEn effectively characterizes the different severities of chronic NP rather than the commonly used linear features. ApEn and other nonlinear techniques (e.g., spectral entropy, Shannon entropy) might be a more suitable methodology to monitor chronic NP experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela M Zolezzi
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León 64849, Mexico; Department of Health Science and Technology, Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Aalborg University, Frederik Bajers Vej 7A 2-207, Aalborg East 9220, Denmark.
| | | | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Vía Atlixcáyotl 2301, Puebla 72453, Mexico
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M. Zolezzi D, Naal-Ruiz NE, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Chronic Neuropathic Pain: EEG data in eyes open and eyes closed with painDETECT and Brief Pain Inventory reports. Data Brief 2023; 48:109060. [PMID: 37006396 PMCID: PMC10050461 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Thirty-six chronic neuropathic pain patients (8 men and 28 women) of Mexican nationality with a mean age of 44±13.98 were recruited for EEG signal recording in eyes open and eyes closed resting state condition. Each condition was recorded for 5 min, with a total recording session time of 10 min. An ID number was given to each patient after signing up for the study, with which they answered the painDETECT questionnaire as a screening process for neuropathic pain alongside their clinical history. The day of the recording, the patients answered the Brief Pain Inventory, as an evaluation questionnaire for the interference of the pain with their daily life. Twenty-two EEG channels positioned in accordance with the 10/20 international system were registered with Smarting mBrain device. EEG signals were sampled at 250 Hz with a bandwidth between 0.1 and 100 Hz. The article provides two types of data: (1) raw EEG data in resting state and (2) the report of patients for two validated pain questionnaires. The data described in this article can be used for classifier algorithms considering stratifying chronic neuropathic pain patients with EEG data alongside their pain scores. In sum, this data is of extreme relevance for the pain field, where researchers have been seeking to integrate the pain experience with objective physiological data, such as the EEG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela M. Zolezzi
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Nuevo León, México
- Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9220, Denmark
- Corresponding author. @Montelezzi
| | - Norberto E. Naal-Ruiz
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Vía Atlixcáyotl 2301, Puebla 72453, México
| | | | - David I. Ibarra-Zarate
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Vía Atlixcáyotl 2301, Puebla 72453, México
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Duville MM, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Neuronal and behavioral affective perceptions of human and naturalness-reduced emotional prosodies. Front Comput Neurosci 2022; 16:1022787. [DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2022.1022787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Artificial voices are nowadays embedded into our daily lives with latest neural voices approaching human voice consistency (naturalness). Nevertheless, behavioral, and neuronal correlates of the perception of less naturalistic emotional prosodies are still misunderstood. In this study, we explored the acoustic tendencies that define naturalness from human to synthesized voices. Then, we created naturalness-reduced emotional utterances by acoustic editions of human voices. Finally, we used Event-Related Potentials (ERP) to assess the time dynamics of emotional integration when listening to both human and synthesized voices in a healthy adult sample. Additionally, listeners rated their perceptions for valence, arousal, discrete emotions, naturalness, and intelligibility. Synthesized voices were characterized by less lexical stress (i.e., reduced difference between stressed and unstressed syllables within words) as regards duration and median pitch modulations. Besides, spectral content was attenuated toward lower F2 and F3 frequencies and lower intensities for harmonics 1 and 4. Both psychometric and neuronal correlates were sensitive to naturalness reduction. (1) Naturalness and intelligibility ratings dropped with emotional utterances synthetization, (2) Discrete emotion recognition was impaired as naturalness declined, consistent with P200 and Late Positive Potentials (LPP) being less sensitive to emotional differentiation at lower naturalness, and (3) Relative P200 and LPP amplitudes between prosodies were modulated by synthetization. Nevertheless, (4) Valence and arousal perceptions were preserved at lower naturalness, (5) Valence (arousal) ratings correlated negatively (positively) with Higuchi’s fractal dimension extracted on neuronal data under all naturalness perturbations, (6) Inter-Trial Phase Coherence (ITPC) and standard deviation measurements revealed high inter-individual heterogeneity for emotion perception that is still preserved as naturalness reduces. Notably, partial between-participant synchrony (low ITPC), along with high amplitude dispersion on ERPs at both early and late stages emphasized miscellaneous emotional responses among subjects. In this study, we highlighted for the first time both behavioral and neuronal basis of emotional perception under acoustic naturalness alterations. Partial dependencies between ecological relevance and emotion understanding outlined the modulation but not the annihilation of emotional integration by synthetization.
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Corona-González CE, Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Personalized Theta and Beta Binaural Beats for Brain Entrainment: An Electroencephalographic Analysis. Front Psychol 2021; 12:764068. [PMID: 34867666 PMCID: PMC8636003 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.764068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Binaural beats (BB) consist of two slightly distinct auditory frequencies (one in each ear), which are differentiated with clinical electroencephalographic (EEG) bandwidths, namely, delta, theta, alpha, beta, or gamma. This auditory stimulation has been widely used to module brain rhythms and thus inducing the mental condition associated with the EEG bandwidth in use. The aim of this research was to investigate whether personalized BB (specifically those within theta and beta EEG bands) improve brain entrainment. Personalized BB consisted of pure tones with a carrier tone of 500 Hz in the left ear together with an adjustable frequency in the right ear that was defined for theta BB (since fc for theta EEG band was 4.60 Hz ± 0.70 SD) and beta BB (since fc for beta EEG band was 18.42 Hz ± 2.82 SD). The adjustable frequencies were estimated for each participant in accordance with their heart rate by applying the Brain-Body Coupling Theorem postulated by Klimesch. To achieve this aim, 20 healthy volunteers were stimulated with their personalized theta and beta BB for 20 min and their EEG signals were collected with 22 channels. EEG analysis was based on the comparison of power spectral density among three mental conditions: (1) theta BB stimulation, (2) beta BB stimulation, and (3) resting state. Results showed larger absolute power differences for both BB stimulation sessions than resting state on bilateral temporal and parietal regions. This power change seems to be related to auditory perception and sound location. However, no significant differences were found between theta and beta BB sessions when it was expected to achieve different brain entrainments, since theta and beta BB induce relaxation and readiness, respectively. In addition, relative power analysis (theta BB/resting state) revealed alpha band desynchronization in the parieto-occipital region when volunteers listened to theta BB, suggesting that participants felt uncomfortable. In conclusion, neural resynchronization was met with both personalized theta and beta BB, but no different mental conditions seemed to be achieved.
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Alonso-Valerdi LM, González-Salazar JI, Ibarra-Zarate DI. Neuropsychological monitoring of current acoustic therapies as alternative treatment of chronic tinnitus. Am J Otolaryngol 2021; 42:103109. [PMID: 34175772 DOI: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2021.103109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
At present, the majority of the top tinnitus treatments is based on sound. Sound-based therapies may become highly effective when the right patient at the correct time and the appropriate context is selected. The investigation presented here attempts to compare sound therapies based on music, retraining, neuromodulation, and binaural sounds in line with (1) neuro-audiology assessments and (2) psychological evaluations. Sound-based therapies were applied in 76 volunteers with tinnitus for 60 days. The neuro-audiology assessment was based on the estimation of the approximate entropy of the electrical neural activity. This assessment revealed that the whole frequency structure of the neural networks showed a higher level of activeness in tinnitus sufferers than in control individuals. Then psychological evaluation showed that retraining treatment tended to be the most effective sound-based therapy to reduce tinnitus perception, but it may be not recommended for individuals with anxiety. Binaural sounds and neuromodulation produced very similar effects at reducing tinnitus perception, stress and anxiety. Music treatments can be applied with caution since they may worsen the condition due to their frequency content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
| | - J Ignacio González-Salazar
- Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
| | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
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Damian-Chavez MM, Ledesma-Coronado PE, Drexel-Romo M, Ibarra-Zarate DI, Alonso-Valerdi LM. How Does Environmental Noise Impact Collaborative Activities at the Main Library of Tecnologico de Monterrey? Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2021; 2021:7-10. [PMID: 34891226 DOI: 10.1109/embc46164.2021.9630265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Environmental noise is an important social issue that directly affects the efficiency of the students. The aim of this study is to investigate how environmental noise generated in the library affects the performance at learning commons. For this study, the noise of the library was recorded and sixteen students of Tecnologico de Monterrey, were recruited. They were divided into four groups, and two collaborative activities were undertaken with and without noise. In both scenarios, the performance and the physiological reaction of students were investigated. The results showed that the students had a 4% higher performance in a quiet environment than in a noisy one, in the same way, the heart rate increased by 3.48% and the blink rate by 22.91%. Finally, the neural electrical activity was reduced by at least 3%. The findings of the present study suggest that collaborative work is difficult to undertake in noise scenarios such as learning commons, where no appropriated policies are established and followed. Cognitive performance is lower in noisy than in quiet conditions.
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Ibarra-Zarate D, Alonso-Valerdi LM. Acoustic therapies for tinnitus: The basis and the electroencephalographic evaluation. Biomed Signal Process Control 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bspc.2020.101900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Alonso-Valerdi LM, Ibarra-Zarate DI, Tavira-Sánchez FJ, Ramírez-Mendoza RA, Recuero M. Electroencephalographic evaluation of acoustic therapies for the treatment of chronic and refractory tinnitus. BMC Ear Nose Throat Disord 2017; 17:9. [PMID: 29209149 PMCID: PMC5704517 DOI: 10.1186/s12901-017-0042-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Background To date, a large number of acoustic therapies have been applied to treat tinnitus. The effect that produces those auditory stimuli is, however, not well understood yet. Furthermore, the conventional clinical protocol is based on a trial-error procedure, and there is not a formal and adequate treatment follow-up. At present, the only way to evaluate acoustic therapies is by means of subjective methods such as analog visual scale and ad-hoc questionnaires. Methods This protocol seeks to establish an objective methodology to treat tinnitus with acoustic therapies based on electroencephalographic (EEG) activity evaluation. On the hypothesis that acoustic therapies should produce perceptual and cognitive changes at a cortical level, it is proposed to examine neural electrical activity of patients suffering from refractory and chronic tinnitus in four different stages: at the beginning of the experiment, at one week of treatment, at five weeks of treatment, and at eight weeks of treatment. Four of the most efficient acoustic therapies found at the moment are considered: retraining, auditory discrimination, enriched acoustic environment, and binaural. Discussion EEG has become a standard brain imaging tool to quantify and qualify neural oscillations, which are basically spatial, temporal, and spectral patterns associated with particular perceptual, cognitive, motor and emotional processes. Neural oscillations have been traditionally studied on the basis of event-related experiments, where time-locked and phase-locked responses (i.e., event-related potentials) along with time-locked but not necessary phase-locked responses (i.e., event-related (de) synchronization) have been essentially estimated. Both potentials and levels of synchronization related to auditory stimuli are herein proposed to assess the effect of acoustic therapies. Trial registration Registration Number: ISRCTN14553550. ISRCTN Registry: BioMed Central. Date of Registration: October 31st, 2017.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, NL Mexico
| | - David I Ibarra-Zarate
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, NL Mexico.,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Francisco J Tavira-Sánchez
- Grupo de Investigación en Instrumentación y Acústica Aplicada (I2A2), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Carretera de Valencia km 7, 28031 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ricardo A Ramírez-Mendoza
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, NL Mexico
| | - Manuel Recuero
- Grupo de Investigación en Instrumentación y Acústica Aplicada (I2A2), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Carretera de Valencia km 7, 28031 Madrid, Spain
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Alonso-Valerdi LM. Python Executable Script for Estimating Two Effective Parameters to Individualize Brain-Computer Interfaces: Individual Alpha Frequency and Neurophysiological Predictor. Front Neuroinform 2016; 10:22. [PMID: 27445783 PMCID: PMC4916201 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2016.00022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2016] [Accepted: 06/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A brain-computer interface (BCI) aims to establish communication between the human brain and a computing system so as to enable the interaction between an individual and his environment without using the brain output pathways. Individuals control a BCI system by modulating their brain signals through mental tasks (e.g., motor imagery or mental calculation) or sensory stimulation (e.g., auditory, visual, or tactile). As users modulate their brain signals at different frequencies and at different levels, the appropriate characterization of those signals is necessary. The modulation of brain signals through mental tasks is furthermore a skill that requires training. Unfortunately, not all the users acquire such skill. A practical solution to this problem is to assess the user probability of controlling a BCI system. Another possible solution is to set the bandwidth of the brain oscillations, which is highly sensitive to the users' age, sex and anatomy. With this in mind, NeuroIndex, a Python executable script, estimates a neurophysiological prediction index and the individual alpha frequency (IAF) of the user in question. These two parameters are useful to characterize the user EEG signals, and decide how to go through the complex process of adapting the human brain and the computing system on the basis of previously proposed methods. NeuroIndeX is not only the implementation of those methods, but it also complements the methods each other and provides an alternative way to obtain the prediction parameter. However, an important limitation of this application is its dependency on the IAF value, and some results should be interpreted with caution. The script along with some electroencephalographic datasets are available on a GitHub repository in order to corroborate the functionality and usability of this application.
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Alonso-Valerdi LM, Sepulveda F, Ramírez-Mendoza RA. Perception and Cognition of Cues Used in Synchronous Brain-Computer Interfaces Modify Electroencephalographic Patterns of Control Tasks. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:636. [PMID: 26635587 PMCID: PMC4655449 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 11/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A motor imagery (MI)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) is a system that enables humans to interact with their environment by translating their brain signals into control commands for a target device. In particular, synchronous BCI systems make use of cues to trigger the motor activity of interest. So far, it has been shown that electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns before and after cue onset can reveal the user cognitive state and enhance the discrimination of MI-related control tasks. However, there has been no detailed investigation of the nature of those EEG patterns. We, therefore, propose to study the cue effects on MI-related control tasks by selecting EEG patterns that best discriminate such control tasks, and analyzing where those patterns are coming from. The study was carried out using two methods: standard and all-embracing. The standard method was based on sources (recording sites, frequency bands, and time windows), where the modulation of EEG signals due to motor activity is typically detected. The all-embracing method included a wider variety of sources, where not only motor activity is reflected. The findings of this study showed that the classification accuracy (CA) of MI-related control tasks did not depend on the type of cue in use. However, EEG patterns that best differentiated those control tasks emerged from sources well defined by the perception and cognition of the cue in use. An implication of this study is the possibility of obtaining different control commands that could be detected with the same accuracy. Since different cues trigger control tasks that yield similar CAs, and those control tasks produce EEG patterns differentiated by the cue nature, this leads to accelerate the brain–computer communication by having a wider variety of detectable control commands. This is an important issue for Neuroergonomics research because neural activity could not only be used to monitor the human mental state as is typically done, but this activity might be also employed to control the system of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) Group, School of Computing Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex , Colchester , UK ; Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey - Campus Ciudad de México , Mexico City , Mexico
| | - Francisco Sepulveda
- Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) Group, School of Computing Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex , Colchester , UK
| | - Ricardo A Ramírez-Mendoza
- Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey - Campus Ciudad de México , Mexico City , Mexico
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Alonso-Valerdi LM, Sepulveda F. Programming an offline-analyzer of motor imagery signals via python language. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2011; 2011:7861-7864. [PMID: 22256162 DOI: 10.1109/iembs.2011.6091937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems control the user's environment via his/her brain signals. Brain signals related to motor imagery (MI) have become a widespread method employed by the BCI community. Despite the large number of references describing the MI signal treatment, there is not enough information related to the available programming languages that could be suitable to develop a specific-purpose MI-based BCI. The present paper describes the development of an offline-analysis system based on MI-EEG signals via open-source programming languages, and the assessment of the system using electrical activity recorded from three subjects. The analyzer recognized at least 63% of the MI signals corresponding to three classes. The results of the offline analysis showed a promising performance considering that the subjects have never undergone MI trainings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luz María Alonso-Valerdi
- School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, UK
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