EMBRACE draws together innovations in biomedical engineering, neuroscience, signal processing, and social psychology, going beyond the state-of-the-art in all these fields.
Our approach combines innovations in technology (a new mobile dry electrode EEG system and a novel multimodal alignment system), analytical methods (new methods for motion-related artefact removal and for multi-level analysis of multimodal data), and study paradigms (the novel table tennis paradigm) that will permit to gain unprecedented understanding of the human social brain during cooperative and competitive joint action.
Innovation in engineering regards the new EMBRACE dry sport flower electrodes that permit recording brain activity while subjects freely move with no time or space restrictions, featuring high signal quality, stability and comfort, short mounting times, long recording times, high space and time resolutions, robust and light-weight electronics, optimized skin-sensor contact, robust modular high-density caps with personalized shape and size. Furthermore, the novel multimodal alignment system offers wireless simultaneous acquisitions of EEG, EMG, ECG, respiration effort and kinematic signals from two subjects during free full body movements.
Innovation in analytical solutions regards methods for the automated correction of artefacts due to gross body movements in the neurophysiological data acquired during free full body movement joint action, and new analytical methods for the analysis of the multimodal dyadic data collected during table tennis gameplay. These analytical solutions combine hyperbrain functional connectivity, microstate analysis, Graph Theory and Network Physiology approaches that permit exploiting the richness of information contained in the collected multimodal data and investigating the mechanisms underpinning joint action at three levels of analysis: neural, cognitive-behavioral, and social.
Innovation in study design: Our new study protocol fully exploits the innovative technology developed within the project. For the first time we could investigate the complex neurophysiological processes underpinning face-to-face non-verbal joint action by using turn-based cooperative and competitive tasks that involve free full body movements. By introducing difficulty levels in the performance of the joint action task, we could also study how these processes adjust to variable external conditions.
The exploitation of the EMBRACE results will bring benefits to European industries in nano-electronics, medical electronics, and even entertainment electronics, with the potential extension of EEG technology markets to products like intelligent prostheses or brain computer interfaces. Consequently, employment opportunities will increase, especially for young engineers, physicists, neuroscientists and behavioral psychologists.
The results of the EMBRACE project can also be exploited to improve teamwork in organizations and work settings where social behavior is a main feature, and to advance the effectiveness of the many task-related goals that are achieved through human coordination and interaction.
Finally, the international mobility and dissemination of the goals and achievements of the EMBRACE project contributed to sharing cultures and knowledge with the scientific community and to promote communication on the importance of research in biomedical engineering to society.
