Andrea GaggioliPh.D.
Personal Homepage:
http://www.positivetechnology.infoCurrent place of employment:
Psychology Department, Università Cattolica di Milano, Italy I hold a M.S. degree in Psychology from University of Bologna and a Ph.D. in Psychobiology from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Milan. I am currently researcher at the Psychology Department of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Milan, and consultant at the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab (ATN-P LAB) of Istituto Auxologico Italiano, a biomedical research institute based in Milan. Prior to working with these organizations, I collaborated with the Competence Center for Virtual Reality at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Stuttgart, Germany.
Publications by Andrea Gaggioli (bibliography)
» 2008 «
Gorini, Alessandra, Gaggioli, Andrea, Vigna, Cinzia and Riva, Giuseppe (2008): A Second Life for eHealth: Prospects for the Use of 3-D Virtual Worlds in Clinical Psychology. In Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10 (3) p. 21
Gaggioli, Andrea and Riva, Giuseppe (2008): Working the crowds. In Science Magazine, 0 (12) p. 321
Riva, Giuseppe and Gaggioli, Andrea (2008): Virtual Clinical Therapy. In: Cai, Y. "Digital Human Modeling, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4650". Springer pp. 90-107
Riva, Giuseppe, Gaggioli, Andrea and Mantovani, Fabrizia (2008): Are Robots Present? From Motor Simulation to “Being There”. In CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11 (6)
“Even if the most sophisticated robot now available is unable to learn and move in the same way as humans, two decades of research in artificial intelligence and cognitive systems introduced the concept of embodiment: the mind has to be understood in the context of its relationship to a physical body that interacts with the world. One of the main outcomes of this vision is the dynamic sensorimotor account of conscious experience. Following this vision, the key feature of a cognitive robot should be the possession and exercise of sensorimotor knowledge. The main criticism against this argument is that such a robot will still lack self-awareness. In this paper, we suggest that a psychology of “presence” can offer new insights to overcome this point. In particular, we argue that in humans the evolutive role of presence is the control of agency through the unconscious separation of “internal” and “external” and the transformation (enaction) and/or recognition (reenaction) of intentions in action. How can we develop presence in robots? If we follow the development of presence in humans, we must use an evolutive process. First, the robot must learn to differentiate itself from the external world by correctly coupling perceptions and movements. Then the robot must learn to clearly separate perception and action planning, even if both share the same language: motor code. Finally, it is through social and cooperative activities that the robot may improve its intentional action and interaction.”
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» 2007 «
Morganti, F. and Gaggioli, Andrea (2007): A virtual reality extended neuropsychological assessment for topographical disorientation: a feasibility study. In Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 4 (26)
“BACKGROUND: Topographical disorientation represents one of the main consequences of brain injury. Up to now several methodological approaches have been used in the assessment of the brain injured patient's navigational abilities showing a moderate correlation with the impairments observed in everyday contexts. METHODS: We propose a combination of standardized neuropsychological tests and a more situated virtual reality-based assessment for the evaluation of spatial orientation in brain injured patients. RESULTS: When tested with this virtual reality integrated procedure patients showed performance and execution times congruent with their neuropsychological evaluation. When compared to a control group, patients revealed significantly slower times and greater errors in solving virtual reality based spatial tasks. CONCLUSION: The use of virtual reality, when combined with classical neuropsychological tests, can provide an effective tool for the study of topographical disorientation.”
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Gorini, Alessandra, Gaggioli, Andrea and Riva, Giuseppe (2007): Virtual worlds, real healing. In Science, 318 (5856) p. 1549
Riva, Giuseppe, Mantovani, Fabrizia, Capideville, Claret Samantha, Preziosa, Alessandra, Morganti, Francesca, Villani, Daniela, Gaggioli, Andrea, Botella, Cristina and Alcaniz, Mariano (2007): Affective Interactions Using Virtual Reality: The Link between Presence and Emotions. In CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10 (1) pp. 45-56
“Many studies showed the ability of movies and imagery techniques to elicit emotions. Nevertheless, it is less clear how to manipulate the content of interactive media to induce specific emotional responses. In particular, this is true for the emerging medium virtual reality (VR), whose main feature is the ability to induce a feeling of "presence" in the computer-generated world experienced by the user. The main goal of this study was to analyze the possible use of VR as an affective medium. Within this general goal, the study also analyzed the relationship between presence and emotions. The results confirmed the efficacy of VR as affective medium: the interaction with "anxious" and "relaxing" virtual environments produced anxiety and relaxation. The data also showed a circular interaction between presence and emotions: on one side, the feeling of presence was greater in the "emotional" environments; on the other side, the emotional state was influenced by the level of presence. The significance of these results for the assessment of affective interaction is discussed.”
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Riva, Giuseppe, Gaggioli, Andrea, Villani, Daniela, Preziosa, Alessandra, Morganti, Francesca, Strambi, Lorenzo, Corsi, Riccardo, Faletti, Gianluca and Vezzadini, Luca (2007): An Open-Source Virtual Reality Platform for Clinical and Research Applications. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4563 pp. 699-707
“In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in clinical and research applications of virtual reality (VR). However, the adoption of this approach is still limited by the high costs of software development, lack of technical expertise among end-users, and the difficulty of adapting the contents of the virtual environments (VEs). To address these needs, we have designed and developed NeuroVR, (http://www.neurovr.org), a cost-free virtual reality platform based on open-source software components. NeuroVR allows non-expert users to easily customize a VE by using a set of pre-designed virtual scenes, and to run them in an immersive or non-immersive modality. In this paper, we provide a description of the key functional features of the platform.”
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Riva, Giuseppe, Gaggioli, Andrea, Villani, Daniela, Preziosa, Alessandra, Morganti, Francesca, Strambi, Lorenzo, Corsi, Riccardo, Faletti, Gianluca and Vezzadini, Luca (2007): An Open-Source Virtual Reality Platform for Clinical and Research Applications. In: Shumaker, Randall (ed.) ICVR 2007 - Virtual Reality - Second International Conference - Part 1 July 22-27, 2007, Beijing, China. pp. 699-707. Available online
» 2006 «
Gaggioli, Andrea, Meneghini, Andrea, Morganti, Francesca, Alcaniz, Mariano and Riva,, Giuseppe (2006): A Strategy for Computer-Assisted Mental Practice in Stroke Rehabilitation. In Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, Vol. 20, No. 4, 503-507, 20 (4) pp. 503-507
“Objective. To investigate the technical and clinical viability of using computer-facilitated mental practice in the rehabilitation of upper-limb hemiparesis following stroke. Design.A single-case study. Setting. Academic-affiliated rehabilitation center. Participant. A 46-year-old man with stable motor deficit of the upper right limb following subcortical ischemic stroke. Intervention. Three computer-enhanced mental practice sessions per week at the rehabilitation center, in addition to usual physical therapy. A custom-made virtual reality system equipped with arm-tracking sensors was used to guide mental practice. The system was designed to superimpose over the (unseen) paretic arm a virtual reconstruction of the movement registered from the nonparetic arm. The laboratory intervention was followed by a 1-month home-rehabilitation program, making use of a portable display device. Main outcome measures. Pretreatment and posttreatment clinical assessment measures were the upper-extremity scale of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Sensorimotor Impairment and the Action Research Arm Test. Performance of the affected arm was evaluated using the healthy arm as the control condition. Results. The patient’s paretic limb improved after the first phase of intervention, with modest increases after home rehabilitation, as indicated by functional assessment scores and sensors data.
Conclusion. Results suggest that technology-supported mental training is a feasible and potentially effective approach for improving motor skills after stroke.”
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Morganti, Francesca, Goulene, Karine, Gaggioli, Andrea, Stramba-Badiale, Marco and Riva, Giuseppe (2006): Grasping Virtual Objects: a Feasibility Study for an Enactive Interface Application in Stroke. In Psychnology, 4 (2) pp. 181-197
“Recent studies show that 30% to 66% of patients who suffered a stroke are unable to recover the upper limb functionality and that most patients present motor disability five years after the acute event. Despite a general motor recovery the incapability to reach and grasp objects in the usual environment remains one of the most common disabilities after stroke. At the present time treatments for such impairments have been based on movement repetition of targeted tasks as part of training activities. Clinicians, however, are still looking for the possibility to provide a rehabilitation procedure that could match the natural and intuitive mode of interaction with objects that humans generally have in reaching and grasping in the daily contexts. In the last years the evolution of technologies appears to meet this request, notably with the growing of enactive interfaces. Such interfaces support the perception-action interactions with an environment allowing users to learn how to perform a useful action in a particular context. The expertise gained through the interaction with this multimodal interfaces results, in fact, in the acquisition of intuitive movements that is essentially based on subjective experience and on the perceptual consequences of their motor acts. The main aim of this work is to investigate the technical and clinical feasibility of using an enactive interface in the rehabilitation of reaching and grasping movements of upper-limb hemiparesis that occurred after stroke. In this study ischemic stroke patients will be requested to perform technology-enhanced grasping task at our rehabilitation center, in addition to usual physical therapy.”
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» 2004 «
Gaggioli, Andrea (2004): Training with Computer-Supported Motor Imagery in Post-Stroke Rehabilitation. In CyberPsychology and Behavior, 7 (3) pp. 327-332
“Converging lines of evidence suggest that motor imagery (the mental simulation of a motor act within working memory) is associated with subliminal activation of the motor system. This observation has led to the hypothesis that cortical activation during motor imagery may affect the acquisition of specific motor skills and help the recovery of motor function. In this paper, we describe a clinical protocol in which we use interactive tools to stimulate motor imagery in hemiplegic stroke patients, thereby helping them to recover lost motor function. The protocol consists of an inpatient and an outpatient phase, combining physical and mental practice. In the inpatient phase, patients are trained in a laboratory setting, using a custom-made interactive workbench (VR Mirror). After discharge, patients use a portable device to guide mental and physical practice in a home setting. The proposed strategy is based on the hypotheses that: (a) combined physical and mental practice can make a cost-effective contribution to the rehabilitation of stroke patients, (b) effective mental practice is not possible without some form of support, from a therapist (as in our inpatient phase) or from technology (as in the outpatient phase), (c) the inclusion of an outpatient phase will allow the patient to practice more often than would otherwise be possible, therefore increasing the speed and/or effectiveness of learning, and (d) the use of interactive technology will reduce the patient's need for skilled support, therefore improving the cost-effectiveness of training.”
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Riva, Giuseppe, Mantovani, Fabrizia and Gaggioli, Andrea (2004): Presence and rehabilitation: toward second-generation virtual reality applications in neuropsychology. In Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 1 (9)
“Virtual Reality (VR) offers a blend of attractive attributes for rehabilitation. The most exploited is its ability to create a 3D simulation of reality that can be explored by patients under the supervision of a therapist. In fact, VR can be defined as an advanced communication interface based on interactive 3D visualization, able to collect and integrate different inputs and data sets in a single real-like experience.
However, "treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi). For rehabilitators, this statement supports the growing interest in the influence of positive psychological state on objective health care outcomes.
This paper introduces a bio-cultural theory of presence linking the state of optimal experience defined as "flow" to a virtual reality experience. This suggests the possibility of using VR for a new breed of rehabilitative applications focused on a strategy defined as transformation of flow. In this view, VR can be used to trigger a broad empowerment process within the flow experience induced by a high sense of presence.
The link between its experiential and simulative capabilities may transform VR into the ultimate rehabilitative device. Nevertheless, further research is required to explore more in depth the link between cognitive processes, motor activities, presence and flow.”
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» 2003 «
Gaggioli, Andrea, Vettorello, Marco and Riva, Giuseppe (2003): From Cyborgs to Cyberbodies: The Evolution of the Concept of Techno-Body in Modern Medicine. In Psychnology, 1 (2) pp. 75-86
“This paper focuses on the ways in which the introduction of technologies in modern medicine is changing collective notions of the body. In particular, it describes two popular and imaginative conceptualizations of the body that have been inspired by progresses made by medical technologies during last century: the cyborg, and the cyberbody. Although these two models stem from the same post-modern philosophical "post-body", "post-biological," or "post-human" visions, they are characterized by a fundamental distinction. While the cyborg, at least in its original conception, is linked to the "wild wired world", the world of cells, neurons, blood and biological processes, the cyberbody can be defined as a wireless, inorganic entity, made of pure bits of information. However, both definitions assume that people no longer has a direct "sense of body", but a mediated sense of body. Further steps in this direction may be determined by the emerging technological paradigm of Ambient Intelligence. In this vision, people will be surrounded by intelligent and intuitive interfaces embedded in everyday objects around us and an environment recognizing and responding to the presence of individuals in an invisible way by year 2010. Although the Ambient Intelligence scenario is still in an early phase of development, it is somehow predictable that technological innovations that this paradigm will bring into medicine are likely to foster the production of a new collective notion of the body based on the "digital me": a virtual reality representation of the patient as a virtual person, integrating all the diagnostic and clinical information of the patient into a single record continuous across time. In addition to explore this perspective from a theoretical viewpoint, implications for medical practice are discussed.”
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Gaggioli, Andrea, Bassi, Marta and Fave, Antonella Delle (2003): Quality of experience in virtual environments. In: Riva, Giuseppe, Davide, Fabrizio and IJsselsteijn, Wjinand "Being There: Concepts, effects and measurement of user presence in synthetic environments". IOS Press
“Abstract. In this chapter, we present a new theoretical and methodological approach to the study of presence and virtual experience. More specifically, our work aims at analyzing the quality of experience associated with virtual environments (VEs), in its emotional, cognitive and motivational components. Specific research instruments have been developed and widely used to study the quality of subjective experience, emphasizing the active role of individual in selecting environmental information. As concerns studies on virtual reality (VR), this holistic approach allows researchers to investigate the subjective perception of virtual events and settings, thus permitting comparisons across different tasks and environments. In addition, it provides information on personal factors such as the motivational pattern, the degree of perceived immersion in the environment, the relevance of the activity to individual’s short and long-term goals.
In the first part of the chapter, we describe how virtual experience has been studied so far and provide the theoretical bases of the proposed approach. Then
we present the research tools that we intend to use to analyze the quality of virtual experience: the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and the Flow Questionnaire (FQ). Finally, we explain how this approach can offer suggestions
for research and practice in the development of virtual environments fostering users’ engagement and empowerment.
”
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Mantovani, Fabrizia, Castelnuovo, Gianluca, Gaggioli, Andrea and Riva, Giuseppe (2003): Virtual Reality Training for Health-Care Professionals. In CyberPsychology and Behavior, 6 (4) pp. 389-395
“Emerging changes in health-care delivery are having a significant impact on the structure of health-care professionals' education. Today it is recognized that medical knowledge doubles every 6–8 years, with new medical procedures emerging everyday. While the half-life of medical information is so short, the average physician practices 30 years and the average nurse 40 years. Continuing education thus represents an important challenge to face. Recent advances in educational technology are offering an increasing number of innovative learning tools. Among these, Virtual Reality represents a promising area with high potential of enhancing the training of health-care professionals. Virtual Reality Training can provide a rich, interactive, engaging educational context, thus supporting experiential learning-by-doing; it can, in fact, contribute to raise interest and motivation in trainees and to effectively support skills acquisition and transfer, since the learning process can be settled within an experiential framework. Current virtual training applications for health-care differ a lot as to both their technological/multimedia sophistication and to the types of skills trained, varying for example from telesurgical applications to interactive simulations of human body and brain, to virtual worlds for emergency training. Other interesting applications include the development of immersive 3D environments for training psychiatrists and psychologists in the treatment of mental disorders. This paper has the main aim of discussing the rationale and main benefits for the use of virtual reality in health-care education and training. Significant research and projects carried out in this field will also be presented, followed by discussion on key issues concerning current limitations and future development directions.”
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Gianluca, Castelnuovo, Gaggioli, Andrea and Riva, Giuseppe (2003): New and old tools in psychotherapy: The use of technology for the integration of traditional clinical treatments. In Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 40 (1) pp. 33-44
Gaggioli, Andrea, Mantovani, Fabrizia, Castelnuovo, Gianluca, Wiederhold, Brenda and Riva, Giuseppe (2003): Avatars in clinical psychology: a framework for the clinical use of virtual humans. In CyberPsychology and Behavior, 6 (2) pp. 117-125
» 2001 «
Gaggioli, Andrea (2001): Communications Through Virtual Technology. Amsterdam, IOS Press
Gaggioli, Andrea and Breining, Ralf (2001): Perception and cognition in immersive Virtual Reality. In: Gaggioli, Andrea "Communications Through Virtual Technology". IOS Press pp. 72-86
“Abstract. In the next future, 3D-CAD methods will be extensively employed in conjunction with 3D immersive displays, so called Virtual Environments (VE).
These may dramatically improve the possibilities of visualization and interaction offered by common 2D display CAD workstations. Thus, ergonomic evaluation needs to be made as to how the computer-generated object is represented on 3D immersive display (VE) during the design process and to evaluate the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) aided design applications on user's perceptive and cognitive system. Although it is known that monocular cues and stereopsis can contribute individually, or in combination, to an appreciation of the object three-dimensional shape, there is little information on the relative merits of them. This is important in the case of virtual objects since incorporation of some visual cues is associated with a significant computational expense. For instance, the simulation of stereoscopic vision requires two display channels to be rendered in a frame interval. Thus, an understanding of the relative benefits of these monocular and binocular coding techniques helps in judging the overall value of including a particular cue. In so doing, virtual reality application can be tuned and optimised for real time performance. This chapter reports on three experiments performed to examine the effects of different visualization techniques of 3D computer-generated freeform surfaces on subjects’ perceptual
and cognitive performance while doing CAD-related activities in an immersive VR system.
”
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Mar 22nd, 2010
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05 Nov 2007: Author was added to the bibliography (approved by an editor)
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