title: A decision support system for real-time stress detection during virtual reality exposure.
abstract: Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly being used in combination with psycho-physiological measures to improve assessment of distress in mental health research and therapy. However, the analysis and interpretation of multiple physiological measures is time consuming and requires specific skills, which are not available to most clinicians. To address this issue, we designed and developed a Decision Support System (DSS) for automatic classification of stress levels during exposure to VR environments. The DSS integrates different biosensor data (ECG, breathing rate, EEG) and behavioral data (body gestures correlated with stress), following a training process in which self-rated and clinical-rated stress levels are used as ground truth. Detected stress events for each VR session are reported to the therapist as an aggregated value (ranging from 0 to 1) and graphically displayed on a diagram accessible by the therapist through a web-based interface.
authors.affiliation: ATN-P Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaggioli
authors.affiliation: ATN-P Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cipresso
authors.affiliation: ATN-P Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Serino
authors.affiliation: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Clinical Physiology (IFC), Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pioggia
authors.affiliation: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Clinical Physiology (IFC), Italy.
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tartarisco
authors.affiliation: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Clinical Physiology (IFC), Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baldus
authors.affiliation: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Clinical Physiology (IFC), Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corda
authors.affiliation: "Antonio Zampolli" Institute for Computational Linguistics (ILC), Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferro
authors.affiliation: Research Center "E.Piaggio", University of Pisa, Via Diotisalvi 2, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Carbonaro
authors.affiliation: Research Center "E.Piaggio", University of Pisa, Via Diotisalvi 2, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tognetti
authors.affiliation: Information Engineering Department, University of Pisa, Via Caruso 2, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Rossi
authors.affiliation: Informatics and Telematics Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH-ITI), Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giakoumis
authors.affiliation: Informatics and Telematics Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH-ITI), Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tzovaras
authors.affiliation: Starlab Barcelona SL, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riera
authors.affiliation: ATN-P Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Riva
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D003198:Computer Simulation; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014584:User-Computer Interface