Brains at Work: How Wearable Technology May Benefit Research, Health and Everyday Life

Dear Colleagues,

Technology is increasingly providing us with the opportunity to study brain functioning while performing activities that are no longer, or not only, laboratory tasks but rather real-life tasks, where the brain works in a natural and complex fashion. In fact, wearable biodevices allow for the real-time measurement of a variety of parameters, ranging from EEG to electrodermal activity and from heart rate to muscle tension and movement. In this way, it is possible to collect data in more natural, real-life contexts. Also, we can catch the brain, or better the whole organism, as it interacts with the environment in a meaningful way, making decisions, solving problems, reasoning about the world, or, simply, performing a certain action in individual or group settings. Moreover, the collection of such complexity of data is now made easier by the development of artificial intelligence-based software, which allows for data from different devices to be integrated with each other and processed in real-time. In particular, the learning capability of such technologies refers not only to the behavior and cognitive processes of the people being studied (a fact that can lead to the production, for example, of personalized feedback, adaptive interfaces, or trigger signals) but also to data processing, particularly in noisy environments, and being optimized though learning.  

This opportunity, and the relative richness and variety of data that can be collected in a single or multiple study, not only allows for a better understanding of how the brain works but it also provides us with the opportunity to study the relationship with the central nervous system and its peculiar way of functioning in certain contexts, as well as with health and life achievements. In fact, it is now clear that brain functioning not only influences our thinking but also the particular way we adapt to the world we live in. This dynamic process of adaptation fitting turns out to be critical to our ability to achieve our life, relational, and work goals, thus founding our quality of life and health. Substantial maladjustment, in fact, cannot help but reflect on our health status, mood, motivation, and ability to satisfy our higher needs. Furthermore, telemedicine applications are increasingly used in both clinical and research settings.

Now, thanks to wearable technologies, it is possible to go beyond theoretical models and classical social and clinical psychology studies. Indeed, it is possible to track neuro- and psycho-physiological measures in real-world contexts, thus attempting to capture the complexity of life rather than the single, often insignificant, constituent element. In particular, contemporary cognitive science, that is slowly abandoning its traditional stand-alone paradigms, is increasingly taking the shape of an open range where it is possible to exercise fruitful cross-fertilization between different disciplines (from computer science to psychology and from art to anthropology and mathematics) that speak a more similar language.

This Special Issue aims to bring together single-, multi-, and inter-disciplinary contributions that can enrich the knowledge we have today of a field that promises to revolutionize the way science takes place in the neuro-cognitive and behavioral domains. Our interest is wide-ranging, with the intention of pulling together a plurality of perspectives, research methodologies, technological solutions, theoretical contributions, and research experiences, even pioneering ones, into a single publication venue. Contributions from the fields of neurology, psychology, and neuroscience, as well as from the world of engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence, will therefore be welcome, not forgetting the fundamental contribution that clinical sciences and humanities can make in this vital and dynamic field of research.

Dr. Claudio Lucchiari
Dr. Alessandro Vato
Dr. Andrea Botturi
Dr. Maria Elide Vanutelli
Guest Editors

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• neurotechnology
• cognitive neuroscience
• wearable devices
• neurorehabilitation
• artificial intelligence
• telemedicine
• multi-brain neuroscience
• real-world research
• clinical applications
• brain–computer interface