Impact of the Internet on Our Brain
An interesting article in the Guardian discusses the new book by Nicholas Carr entitled “The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember.” Two summers ago, Carr is the writer who published an article in the Atlantic called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He discusses the impact that ubiquitous, always-on networking is having on our cognitive processes. and argues that our deepening dependence on networking technology is indeed changing not only the way we think, but also the structure of our brains.
He discusses the impact that ubiquitous, always-on networking is having on our cognitive processes. and argues that our deepening dependence on networking technology is indeed changing not only the way we think, but also the structure of our brains.
We have seen how communications technologies shape and reshape society, for example, the impact that printing and the broadcast media have had on our world. The question that we couldn’t answer before now was whether these technologies could also reshape us. Carr argues that modern neuroscience, which has revealed the “plasticity” of the human brain, shows that our habitual practices can actually change our neuronal structures. The brains of illiterate people, for example, are structurally different from those of people who can read. So if the technology of printing – and its concomitant requirement to learn to read – could shape human brains, then surely it’s logical to assume that our addiction to networking technology will do something similar?
Not all neuroscientists agree but when the Pew Research Centre’s Internet & American Life project asked its panel of more than 370 internet experts for their reaction, 81% of them agreed with the proposition that “people’s use of the internet has enhanced human intelligence“.
Asynchronous Telepsychiatry
In a new study published in Psychiatric Services, researchers from UC Davis School of Medicine found that psychiatrists can accurately assess a patient’s mental health by viewing videotaped interviews that are sent to them for consultation and treatment recommendations.
The approach, called asynchronous telepsychiatry, uses store-and-forward technology, in which medical information is retrieved, stored and transmitted for later review using e-mail or Web applications. This technology has been used extensively in dermatology, with photos of skin conditions sent to dermatologists, or x-rays sent to radiologists for assessment.
The current study, according to lead author Peter Yellowlees, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is the first to examine store-and-forward technology for psychiatry. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of asynchronous telepsychiatry, sixty male and female patients who were living in a rural county in California’s San Joaquin Valley were selected. They were between the ages of 27 and 64 with mostly mild-to-moderate mental-health disorders. Structured interviews of 20-30 minute duration were conducted at a community-based primary care clinic. The videos were then uploaded to UC Davis’ specially designed Web-based telepsychiatry consultation record. Yellowlees and Donald Hilty, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, reviewed the videotapes and provided psychiatric evaluations to the patients’ community-based primary-care physicians.
Fifty-one percent of patients received diagnoses of mood disorders, 19 percent received diagnoses of substance use disorders, 32 percent received diagnoses of anxiety disorders and 5 percent received other diagnoses — including kleptomania, schizophrenia and parasomnia. Five patients also were diagnosed with disorders such as borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or personality disorder. Some of the individuals had multiple diagnoses.
“The consulting psychiatrists provided feedback to referring physicians within two weeks, but asynchronous telepsychiatry could occur within 24 hours if it were to become a regular service,” Yellowlees said. “Asynchronous telepsychiatry should not take the place of face-to-face psychiatric evaluations and is not suitable for patients with urgent psychiatric conditions,” he said. “But there are a number of circumstances in which it would be helpful in providing more primary-care physicians greater access to psychiatric consultations.”
“There is a substantial shortage of psychiatrists,” Yellowlees said. “Asynchronous telepsychiatry would allow us to have better access to information about patients being referred by primary providers and to provide more comprehensive opinions. This approach could be used by the military and in many different rural and metropolitan settings. It signals the beginning of the true multimedia electronic medical record with clinical video recordings becoming part of the data set.”
Source: UC David Press Release
Article Abstract:
Closer to the Universal Translator
In the science fiction series Star Trek, the universal translator is a device used to decipher and interpret alien languages into the native language of the user. Currently under development by the The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Defense is a new voice-translation technology designed to improve communication between the U.S. military and non-English speakers in Afghanistan.
The device is a phone called TRANSTAC (spoken language communication and TRANSlation system for TACtical use), the DARPA project currently focuses on Pashto, a native Afghan language, but NIST has also assessed machine translation systems for Dari and Iraqi Arabic. When an English speaker speaks into the phone, automatic speech recognition distinguishes what is said and generates a text file that software translates to the target language. Text-to-speech technology converts the resulting text file into an oral response in the foreign language. This process is reversed for the foreign-language speaker.
NIST researchers held focus groups with U.S. military personnel who have served overseas to determine critical communication interactions to simulate and evaluate in tests. The research team then devised 25 scenarios for evaluating the performance of translation devices, including vehicle checkpoints; communication of key information; facility inspections; medical assessments; and Afghani-U.S. military training exercises. Marines experienced in these tasks and native Kandahari-dialect Pashto speakers acted out the scenarios without a script. Each scenario was performed using the three industry-developed translation devices.
On-site judges observed the scenarios for each test, and the participating Marines and Pashto speakers were surveyed about the ease of interaction with the systems. A separate panel of judges fluent in English and Pashto later watched videos of the exercise and evaluated each of the three systems in terms how accurately concepts were communicated in both languages. After a detailed assessment of the evaluation for DARPA, they can make an informed decision to determine where to direct funds and efforts in the TRANSTAC project.
Sources:
Brain Scans to Guide Career Choice?
A team of researchers led by Richard Haier, from the University of California, Irvine, USA, investigated the neurological basis for performance on aptitude tests. It is well known that general aptitude tests and specific mental ability tests are important tools for vocational guidance. Researchers are now asking whether performance on such tests is based on differences in brain structure, and if so, can brain scans be helpful in choosing a career? An article published in the open access journal BMC Research Notes investigated eight tests used in vocational guidance and how well they correlated to gray matter in areas throughout the brain.
Using MRI, the researchers correlated gray matter with independent ability factors (general intelligence, speed of reasoning, numerical, spatial, memory) and with individual test scores from a battery of cognitive tests completed by 40 individuals seeking vocational guidance. They found that, in general, the grey matter correlates for the broad and narrow test types were different.
According to the lead author,”a person’s pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses is related to their brain structure, so there is a possibility that brain scans could provide unique information that would be helpful for vocational choice. Our current results form a basis to investigate this further.”
Source: EurekAlert
Personal Identity and Avatars Rights
An interesting article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research discusses the rights and ethical issues pertaining to the use of avatars as representing a person. The authors Mark and Abraham Graber from the Carver College of Medicine and the University of Iowa begin by stating “there is an astounding silence in the peer-reviewed literature regarding what rights a person ought to expect to retain when being represented by an avatar rather than a biological body.”
They present an argument that when an avatar is used, it should retain similar rights to the human using the avatar. They discuss that: (1) possessing a physical body is not a necessary condition for possessing rights; (2) rights are already extended to representations of a person to which no biological consciousness is attached; and (3) when imbued with intentionality, some prostheses become “self.”
The authors point out that the virtual and real worlds often collide and they offer the examples that theft of virtual property has been prosecuted as if it were theft of material property and the “Belgian police opened an investigation into a man accused of virtual rape and began paroling Second Life to prevent crimes.”
The discussion ventures into the ethics, rights, issues of informed consent, issues of identity and the concept of the ’self’ and the authors outlined a case for showing that avatars, as extensions of the self, are candidates for rights.
Interesting reading!
Source:
Graber MA, Graber AD
Get Your Paws off of My Pixels: Personal Identity and Avatars as Self
J Med Internet Res 2010;12(3):e28
URL: http://www.jmir.org/2010/3/e28/
Artificial Intelligence for Improving Team Sports
Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid are participating in a study to develop a system for evaluating sport performance by applying the principles of artificial intelligence techniques to automatically analyze the development of plays. The aim of this project is to determine certain performance indicators in team sport competition and training for analyzing what kind of plays and strategies are most apt for each case.
For the first prototype, the scientists have focused on basketball and they hope to obtain models for automated analysis of sport behavior. Through a series of cameras, they measure all the actions of the players on the court and apply complex reasoning algorithms to allow them to determine the tactics and types of play that are happening on the scene. According to the researchers, the advantage of this type of system is that it applies a certain objectivity when analyzing the game without having to depend on a human expert who studies the opponent and who may obtain different results according to his/her background, knowledge, or the context.
What the scientists hope to accomplish is to be able to interpret a large quantity of acquired information to find relationships and patterns which may even be unknown to experts in sports activities. They believe that they could determine from the data some key elements or reasons as to why some teams win more or lose more.
Another research team at the University is evaluating biomechanical sensors that track athletes movements in a tridimensional manner. They believe that this type of sensor could have applications for rehabilitation from various injuries.
Source: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
A Pacemaker for The Brain
A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University’s Psychobiology Research Unit and an international group from Austria, England and Spain are working on a chip that will provide deep brain stimulation precisely where and when it’s needed.
This chip is called the Rehabilitation Nano Chip (or ReNaChip). It is hooked up to tiny electrodes which are implanted in the brain. The chip is then implanted just under the skin like a cardiac pacemaker. The goal is to eventually make the ReNaChip small enough to be “etched” onto the electrodes themselves.
The team records activity using electrodes implanted in diseased areas of the brain. Based on an analysis of this activity, they develop algorithms to simulate healthy neuronal activity which are programmed into a microchip and fed back into the brain. One of the goals is to develop a platform that is flexible enough to provide a basis for a variety of clinical experiments, and tools which can be programmed for specific disorders. For example, the chip could restore lost functions of the brain after a traumatic brain injury from a car accident or stroke.
“The idea that a chip can interface between inputs and outputs of certain brain area is a very new concept in scientific circles.” The researchers believe that their ReNaChip could help people whose brains have deteriorated with age or been damaged by injury and disease. The chip could not only provide a bionic replacement for lost neuronal function in the brain, under ideal conditions, it could significantly rehabilitate the brain. Current work is focused on attempting to rehabilitate motor-learning functions that were lost due to brain damage.
From the ReNaChip Home Page
The ReNaChip project aims to develop a biomimetic, biohybrid model that can demonstrate the recovery of a learning response that is lost with age. The project supports the development of a number of component technologies that will be integrated and clinically implemented. Real-time behavioural recovery will provide a proof-of-concept demonstration for the functional rehabilitation of more complex neuronal systems.
Sources
Tel Aviv University’s American Friends Newsletter
ReNaChip Home Page
Software to Measure Emotional Reactions to the Web
A group of Canadian scientists from the University of Montreal Department Of Communications is developing software that can actually measure emotional reactions to the Web. The software evaluates the biological responses of Internet users including: body heat, eye movements, facial expressions and other reactions to analyze how they relate to online activities.
The researchers are integrating different biometric measures with AI techniques to analyze interactions particularly in the context of Web 2.0 applications where e-commerce integrates user generated content. Web 2.0 is described as a second-stage evolution of the Web, this emerging context is characterized by increasing consumer participation which rely on bi-directional communication tools and technologies, enabling “customers to share their opinions and experiences on goods and services with a multitude of other consumers.” According to the research team, “Web 2.0 participative technologies do not equate participation though, and site managers struggle to find new Web 2.0 business models that would lead to profitability.” In this context, any form of interaction from users has shown to be primarily motivated by the desire for social interaction and thus it is important to assess the way that the interfaces support the social and confidence dimensions of the user toward the content but also to encourage him to contribute.
Lead researcher, Aude Dufresne, a professor at the University of Montreal, points out that “with e-commerce and the multiplication of retail Web sites, it has become crucial for companies to consider the emotions of Web users. Our software is the first designed to measure emotions at conscious and preconscious levels, which will give companies a better sense of the likes and dislikes of Web users.”
Image the application of this technology to psychiatry and virtual worlds.
University of Montreal Department of Communications
Aude Dufresne Lab
Study abstract (pdf)
Technology and Medicine
An interesting technology and medicine book review published in the current JAMA called Technology Medicine: The Changing World of Doctors and Patients, discusses how technology has become an integral part of medicine in the last 5 decades. The book explores several “tranformative” medical technologies that have changed the doctor-patient relationship as well as the world of medicine. The author, Stanley Joel Reiser, MD, from George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, describes key lessons about the interaction of technology and medicine:
- that new medical technologies almost always change the nature of the interactions between patients and caregivers
- that technology seems to inevitably lead to increased costs in health care, which in turn creates a need to ration the use of that technology
- that advocates of technology almost always oversell the benefits of the proposed technology and, at the same time, publically diminish the value of the technology they are trying to replace
For each of the key lessons, he provides examples and discusses the ethics and the socio-medical politics involved. Reiser suggests that technological changes are not made in a vacuum; rather they reflect, enforce, and ultimately change the dominant thinking of the time. He also points out that these new technologies channel the focus of the end user to those aspects of reality they are designed to capture and can result in unintended consequences for patients and the practice of medicine.
The reviewer summarizes the book by pointing out that “the primary theses of Reiser’s work – that new technologies change the nature of the patient-physician relationship, lead to increased costs, and have unintended consequences – hold important lessons for the US health care system. For example, as millions of dollars begin to be invested to change the way physicians deliver care through the use of an electronic health record, physicians would do well to be students of history and remember the changes brought about by the technologies detailed in this book. Through such an exercise, the balance between emerging technologies and the humanity of medicine may be better navigated.”
JAMA Book Review Abstract
Vol. 303 No. 21, June 2, 2010
Technological Medicine: The Changing World of Doctors and Patients
By Stanley Joel Reiser
New York, NY, Cambridge University Press
Reviewer
Eric G. Campbell, PhD
Mongan Institute for Health Policy
Department of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston
Measuring the Value of Investment in Health Information Technology
A study that appears in the May/June 2010 issue of Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) describes a framework for evaluating the costs, effort, and value of the nationwide data exchange as the nationwide health information network (NHIN) moves closer to becoming a reality. The NHIN has been proposed to securely link community and state health information exchange (HIE) entities to create a national, interoperable network for sharing healthcare data in the USA.
Using a literature review, the study reviewed knowledge gained from active NHIN technology and policy development and the authors constructed a framework for evaluating the costs, effort, and value of data exchange between an HIE entity and the NHIN. They then presented an online survey to the HIE professionals and researchers to evaluate the usefulness of the various metrics in the framework.
The framework is composed of 5 categories: implementation; technology; policy; data; and value. Each category enumerates a variety of measures and measure types. The respondents to the survey indicated that it contained useful measures for current and future use in HIE and NHIN evaluation.
The authors concluded by suggesting that the “proposed framework supports efforts to measure the costs, effort, and value associated with nationwide data exchange.” This framework also will help the nation track the development and utilization of health information exchange and the array of NHIN services currently under development with support from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
This study has been conducted by the The Regenstrief Institute
Source: JAMIA
JAMIA 2010;17:295-301