title: Psychophysiological responses to robotic rehabilitation tasks in stroke.
abstract: This paper presents the analysis of four psychophysiological responses in post-stroke upper extremity rehabilitation. The goal was to determine which psychophysiological responses would provide the most reliable information about subjects' psychological states during rehabilitation. Heart rate, skin conductance, respiration, and skin temperature were recorded in a stroke group and a control group during two difficulty levels of a pick-and-place task performed in a virtual environment using a haptic robot and during a cognitive task. Psychophysiological measurements were correlated with results of a self-report questionnaire. All four responses showed significant changes in response to the different tasks. Skin conductance differentiated between the two difficulty levels and was correlated with self-reported arousal in both stroke and control groups. Skin temperature differentiated between the two difficulty levels for the control group, but provided poor results for the stroke group. Heart rate and respiration increased during tasks, but their connection to psychological state was unclear. Results suggest that, of the four measured responses, skin conductance offers the most potential as a psychological state indicator, with other measures providing supplementary information. Psychophysiological measurements could thus be used in closed-loop biocooperative systems that would detect the user's psychological state and change the course of therapy accordingly.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. domen.novak@robo.fe.uni-lj.si
authors.forename: Domen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Novak
authors.forename: Jaka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ziherl
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olensek
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milavec
authors.forename: Janez
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Podobnik
authors.forename: Matjaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mihelj
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Munih
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011603:Psychophysiology; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D012984:Software; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult