“BStrongBSmart”
Morphological manipulations of the virtual body and physio-cognitive effects.

"BstrongBsmart" project is part of the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellowship programme (cofinanced by the Human+ fellowship programme). I am the PI of the project, with the supervision of Prof. Rachel Mc Donnel (School of Computer Science and Statistics) and the co-supervision of Prof. Nicholas Johnson (School of Drama). The project is carried out at the ADAPT Centre and  School of Computer Science and Statistics of Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).

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Aims and Relevance
The main aim of "BstrongBsmart" is to provide evidence that visual manipulations of the own virtual avatar can have beneficial effects on physiological (muscle volume and activation) and cognitive (social biases) functions. The idea is to propose a novel form of training, entirely implemented in the IVR system (while the real person's body is still), that acts directly on morphological aspects of the moving virtual body but positively affects many other mental and bodily functions.
 

The impact of the “BStrongBSmart” proposal can be summarized in three main parts:
1) Clinical impact: the IVR training here proposed can be very conveniently applied to patients with motor disorders, so that they can benefit from the positive effects of the IVR training on their body, without the risks typically associated with physical activity (e.g., falls). In fact, this IVR training can have beneficial effects (in this case, on muscle volume/activation and on cognitive biases) comparable to the ones that arise after actual training. 
2) Theoretical impact: the expected results of the “BStrongBSmart” project would be complementary to existing theoretical models of motor control, providing new insight about the (virtual) embodiment in the conscious body representation system.

3) Technological impact: this study would confirm the effectiveness of hi-tech methods in neuroscience and their usability and usefulness, bridging the gap between computer science and neuroscience/psychology. 

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Background 

It is not just common knowledge, but there is also scientific evidence that physical activity can improve cardiovascular, metabolic and also cognitive health. Unfortunately, in some cases (e.g., aged population, elderly in frailty conditions, cardiophatic patients, subjects recovering after a long-term disease, neurological patients, sedentary people, etc.) it is complicated, or even impossible, to perform strength or aerobic physical exercise.

The scientific challenge here is to create the necessary conditions for the above-mentioned cases to safely perform physical activity, in order to enhance (especially for young people) or to preserve (especially for elderly or people with particular motor disorders) bodily functions on different levels (physiological, motor, cognitive, neural, emotional, etc.). 

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Approach

Among innovative computer-based technologies, immersive virtual reality (IVR) is one of the most compelling. The plausibility and the sense of presence make the virtual illusion extremely effective: in fact, IVR induces the realistic impression of being inside a virtual world and owning a virtual body (avatar) by simply displaying it in a coherent position with respect to the subject’s body (i.e., in first-person perspective).

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