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5th EAI International Symposium on Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health

September 24–25, 2015 | Milan, Italy

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Prof. Rosalind Picard
Founder and Director of the Affective Computing Research Group
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

Keynote Speech Title: What can affective wearables tell us about the brain

Professor Picard is Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, director and also the founder of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, co-director of the Things That Think Consortium, and co-founder of Affectiva. In 2005, she was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.






Prof. Giuseppe Riva
Professor at the Catholic University of Milan
Head Researcher at ATN-P Lab, Istituto Auxologico Italiano

Title: Unlocking the Virtual Body: Multisensory Simulation/Stimulation for the Assessment and Treatment of Obesity and Eating Disorders

Abstract:

It is well known that eating and weight disorders are complex problems with multifactorial aetiology, medical complications, and chronic and relapse-ridden course causing high costs to individuals and society at large. For this reason trans-disciplinary efforts for further elucidating this mechanism and improving the effectiveness of the available evidence-based interventions are imperative at this time. The keynote will present and discuss the potential of advanced technology - in particular virtual reality - for the assessment and treatment of these disorders presenting different clinical applications based on the “Allocentric Lock Theory”. The key hypothesis of this framework is that both eating disorders and obesity are the outcome of a primary disturbance in the way the body is “experienced” and “remembered”. Specifically, individuals with (or developing) these pathologies are locked to an allocentric (observer view) disembodied negative memory of their own body that is not updated by perceptual data even after a demanding diet and/or a significant weight loss.

Giuseppe Riva is the President of the International Association of CyberPsychology, Training, and Rehabilitation and member of the steering committee of the Society for Computers in Psychology.