L'interaction des individus avec l'environnement statique ou dynamique nécessite une exploration détaillée et précise des objets. Pour cela, notre système oculomoteur produit des mouvements oculaires rapides et précis appelés « saccades » afin de ramener l’image des objets d’intérêt sur la petite zone centrale de notre rétine (fovéa). Toutefois, notre système oculomoteur est fréquemment exposé à des perturbations physiologiques ou pathologiques. Ces changements sont contrôlés en permanence par des processus sensori moteurs basés sur la plasticité neuronale et appelés adaptation saccadique. L’objectif de mes travaux de thèse est de mieux comprendre les caractéristiques de cette adaptation et sa rétention à long terme mais aussi les réseaux impliqués dans l’adaptation saccadique. Comme les saccades oculaires ont un lien étroit avec l’attention visuo-spatiale, notre intérêt s’est également porté sur les interactions qui peuvent exister avec les réseaux impliqués dans le contrôle de l’attention visuo-spatiale. Un des principaux résultats est que l’orientation de l’attention exogène covert -sans bouger les yeuxdans des taches de détection et de discrimination est améliorée après l’adaptation des saccades réactives. Ces données fondamentales pourraient mener au développement de nouvelles méthodes de rééducation des déficits visuo-attentionnels / The interaction of human beings with their static or dynamic environment requires detailed and precise exploration of objects. For this, our oculomotor system produces fast and accurate eye movements called "saccades" to bring the image of objects of interest on the small central area of the retina (fovea). However, our oculomotor system is frequently exposed to physiological or pathological disturbances. These changes are continuously monitored by sensorimotor processes based on neuronal plasticity and called "saccadic adaptation". The aim of my thesis is to better understand the characteristics of this adaptation and its long-term retention but also the neural networks involved in saccadic adaptation. As saccadic eye movements are closely related to visuo-spatial attention our work has also addressed the interactions that may exist with the networks involved in the control of visuo-spatial attention. A major result revealed that the orientation of the 'covert' exogenous attention -without moving the eyes- in detection and discrimination tasks is improved after adaptation of reactive saccades. These basic data could give rise to the development of new rehabilitation methods in visual-attention deficits

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, is a new clinical treatment shown to be effective for victims of trauma. EMDR is a time efficient, comprehensive methodology backed by positive, controlled research, for the treatment of disturbing experiences that underlie many pathologies. An eight phase treatment approach that includes using eye movements or other left-right stimulation, EMDR helps victims of trauma reprocess disturbing thoughts and memories. The purpose of this research project was to describe and explore the utilization of EMDR by licensed clinical social workers who were registered as members of the National Association of Social Workers.

Online conversations via video have nowadays partially replaced face to face contact, and there are some challenges that occur in video conversations, e.g., time delay and the placement of the camera which leads to eliminating the possibility for direct eye contact, and time delay. There are experiences that these conditions disturb the social connection with the other, which does not mainly affect problem solving effectiveness, but something relational seems to alter. This study investigated if eye-movement can used to measure social connectedness during video conversation. In order to study this, two custom made units (“NUNAs”) with robotized cameras were built, which e.g. allow for unprocessed eye contact. A feasibility pilot was conducted, which data this report is based on. The experimental conditions were 1, available eye contact, 2, skewed visuality and 3, time delayed signal. The participants (n = 12) took part pairwise, they were familiar with online conversation and did not self report autism spectrum disorder. They were instructed to talk naturally and unprobed through video using the NUNA’s for 30-50 minutes, and the three conditions were changing every 4 minutes. Eye movement behavior within the three conditions was compared, such as the duration of the visit in the eyes area. None of the results showed a significant difference. Factors that might lead to these results, such as limited sample size, are discussed. Eye movement in relational processes may be needed to be studied on a dyadic level, and not on individual. / Onlinekonversationer via video har numera delvis ersatt kommunikation ansikte mot ansikte. Det finns dock vissa utmaningar som uppstår vid videosamtal, exempelvis placeringen av kameran som leder till ett omöjliggörande av ögonkontakt, och tidsfördröjning. Det finns erfarenheter av att dessa förhållanden stör känslan av samhörighet till den andre, vilket inte påverkar problemlösningens effektivitet nämnvärt, istället är det de relationella aspekterna som förändras. Denna studie undersökte om ögonrörelser kan användas för att mäta social anknytning under videokonversation. För att studera detta byggdes två specialtillverkade enheter (”NUNA”) med robotiserade kameror, som t.ex. tillåter obearbetad ögonkontakt. En pilotstudie genomfördes och data ifrån studien har legat till grund för denna rapport. Experimentförhållandena var 1, tillgänglig ögonkontakt, 2, skev visualitet och 3, fördröjd signal. Deltagarna (n = 12) deltog parvis, de var bekanta med onlinekonversationer och rapporterade själva att de inte var inom autism spekrat. De instruerades att prata naturligt genom video med hjälp av NUNA i 30-50 minuter, och de tre förhållandena ändrades var 4:e minut. Ögonrörelsebeteenden inom de tre tillstånden jämfördes, såsom längden på besöket i ögonområdet. Inget av resultaten visade någon signifikant skillnad. Faktorer som kan leda till dessa resultat, såsom begränsad urvalsstorlek samt att ögonrörelser i relationella processer kan behöva studeras på dyadisk nivå, och inte på individnivå, diskuteras.

Den ständigt ökande mängden av smarta enheter i vår vardag har lett till nya problem inom HCI så som hur vi människor ska interagera med dessa enheter på ett effektivt och enkelt sätt. Än så länge har kontextuellt medvetna system visat sig kunna vara ett möjligt sätt att lösa detta problem. Om ett system hade kunnat automatiskt detektera personers aktiviteter och avsikter, kunde det agera utan någon explicit inmatning från användaren. Ögon har tidigare visat sig avslöja mycket information om en persons kognitiva tillstånd och skulle kunna vara en möjlig modalitet för att extrahera aktivitesinformation ifrån.I denna avhandling har vi undersökt möjligheten att detektera aktiviteter genom att använda en billig, hemmabyggd ögonspårningsapparat. Ett experiment utfördes där deltagarna genomförde aktiviteter i ett kök för att samla in data om deras ögonrörelser. Efter experimentet var färdigt, annoterades, förbehandlades och klassificerades datan med hjälp av en multilayer perceptron--och en random forest--klassificerare.Trots att mängden data var relativt liten, visade resultaten att igenkänningsgraden var mellan 30-40% beroende på vilken klassificerare som användes. Detta bekräftar tidigare forskning att aktivitetsigenkänning genom att analysera ögonrörelser är möjligt. Dock visar det även att det fortfarande är svårt att uppnå en hög igenkänningsgrad. / The increasing amount of smart devices in our everyday environment has created new problems within human-computer interaction such as how we humans are supposed to interact with these devices efficiently and with ease. So far, context-aware systems could be a possible candidate to solve this problem. If a system automatically could detect people's activities and intentions, it could act accordingly without any explicit input from the user. Eyes have previously shown to be a rich source of information about a person's cognitive state and current activity. Because of this, eyes could be a viable input modality for extracting information from. In this thesis, we examine the possibility of detecting human activity by using a low cost, home-built monocular eye tracker. An experiment was conducted were participants performed everyday activities in a kitchen to collect eye movement data. After conducting the experiment, the data was annotated, preprocessed and classified using multilayer perceptron and random forest classifiers.Even though the data set collected was small, the results showed a recognition rate of between 30-40% depending on the classifier used. This confirms previous work that activity recognition using eye movement data is possible but that achieving high accuracy is challenging.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間健康科学) / 甲第20294号 / 人健博第42号 / 新制||人健||4(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科人間健康科学系専攻 / (主査)教授 二木 淑子, 教授 精山 明敏, 教授 村井 俊哉 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human Health Sciences / Kyoto University / DFAM

Il y a une longue histoire derrière l’intérêt porté pour les rêves lucides –conscience de rêver pendant un rêve– datant de l’époque de la Grèce antique. La compréhension du rêve lucide a d’abord reposée sur des observations personnelles de certains individus ayant eux-mêmes expérimentés leurs propres rêves lucides. La découverte de l’inconscient, de même que celle du sommeil paradoxal (SP), a grandement contribué à l’essor du rêve lucide, qui a finalement constitué l’objet d’étude de plusieurs recherches empiriques, dont celles menées par le groupe de Stanford, qui est l’un des premiers à avoir évalué la capacité des rêveurs à signaler leurs rêves lucides à l’aide de différents mouvements du corps, en temps réel. Le rêve lucide est un phénomène prévalent, comprenant de nombreuses dimensions, allant de la conscience de soi jusqu’au contrôle sur le contenu du rêve. Certains auteurs ont également parlé du rêve lucide en tant qu’état mental hybride, combinant des caractéristiques des rêves survenant en SP et d’autres caractéristiques propres à l’éveil. De plus, il s’avère que les individus rapportant des rêves lucides fréquemment présentent des caractéristiques psychologiques particulières, sans compter les corrélats physiologiques mesurables qui ont également été associés aux rêves lucides, de même que des corrélats neurophysiologiques. Certains auteurs se sont questionnés sur les différentes façons d’induire des rêves lucides en sommeil. Les techniques proposées sont nombreuses et diversifiées, allant des techniques comportementales aux techniques de stimulation électrique. À cet effet, deux études ont utilisé la stimulation transcrânienne par courant direct (tDCS) (Stumbrys, Erlacher, & Schredl, 2013) et alternatif (tACS) (Voss et al., 2014) dans les régions frontales pendant le SP, montrant une association entre l’augmentation de la conscience de soi dans les rêves et l’activité gamma fronto-temporale. Toutefois, ces études renferment plusieurs faiblesses méthodologiques. Nous avons donc tenté de reproduire ces résultats considérables en appliquant la tACS en SP dans les régions frontales pendant 2.5 min à une fréquence de 40 Hz lors de siestes matinales –favorisant des périodes riches en SP– et en utilisant des tests statistiques plus conservateurs ainsi que des mouvements oculaires pour signaler la lucidité. Pour s’y faire, nous avons recruté 33 sujets dans une étude randomisée à simple aveugle dans laquelle la tACS a été appliquée (STIM) ou non (SHAM) en SP. Les sujets ont été réveillés 3 min après la fin de la STIM ou du SHAM pour répondre à un journal de rêves et une échelle évaluant le degré de lucidité contenu dans les rêves. Bien que plusieurs signaux de lucidité ont été observés, ces derniers se sont produits dans les deux conditions expérimentales, et ce, sans différence significative. L’auto-évaluation du contenu des rêves ne différait pas non plus entre les conditions. Par conséquent, les résultats de la présente étude ne permettent pas de conclure que la tACS appliquée à une fréquence de 40 Hz en SP engendre plus de rêves lucides signalés en temps réel, un plus grand nombre de rêves lucides tels que définis par la LuCiD Scale et des scores plus élevés aux facteurs de cette même échelle. Plusieurs considérations méthodologiques peuvent avoir jouer un rôle dans la production de rêves lucides en sommeil, tels que les critères de recrutement, la pratique des signaux de lucidité et les effets indirects de la tACS, et avoir masqué l’effet de la tACS, qui, dû à son effet sans doute minime, n’a peut-être pas été en mesure d’influencer significativement la production de rêves lucides. Somme toute, plusieurs sujets ont été en mesure de signaler ou de rapporter des rêves lucides dans le cadre de cette étude, ce pourquoi il serait intéressant d’étudier davantage les différentes applications des rêves lucides, autant dans le but d’accroitre nos connaissances sur les rêves et les théories de la conscience que pour développer de potentiels outils cliniques. / There is a long history of interest in lucid dreaming–the awareness of dreaming while dreaming–from the time of ancient Greece. The understanding of lucid dreaming was initially based on personal observations of certain individuals who had themselves experienced lucid dreams. Discovery of the unconscious, as well as rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, greatly contributed to the rise of interest in lucid dreaming, which finally became the object of several empirical studies. The Stanford group is one of the first to have conducted laboratory studies specifically on lucid dreams assessing, among other attributes, the ability of dreamers to signal their lucid dreams with different body movements in real-time. Lucid dreaming is a prevalent phenomenon, comprising many dimensions, ranging from self-awareness to control over dream content. Some authors have also described lucid dreaming as a hybrid mental state, mixing REM dreaming and wakefulness characteristics. Moreover, frequent lucid dreamers display certain psychological characteristics, such as high creativity, an internal locus of control, and increases in several cognitive functions. Lucid dreaming has measurable physiological and neurophysiological correlates. Some authors have speculated about the different ways to induce lucid dreams during sleep. The proposed techniques are many and varied, ranging from behavioral techniques to electrical stimulation techniques. Critically, two studies employing frontal transcranial direct (tDC) (Stumbrys et al., 2013) and alternating (tAC) current stimulation (Voss et al., 2014) during REM sleep, have shown an association between increased self-awareness in dreams and fronto-temporal gamma electroencephalographic activity. However, these studies suffer from several methodological weaknesses. We attempted to replicate these important findings using frontal tAC stimulation during morning, REM-rich naps, real-time signal verification and more appropriate conservative statistical tests. We recruited 33 subjects in a single-blind randomized group study in which tAC stimulation was applied (STIM) or not (SHAM) during the REM sleep of a morning nap. During the STIM condition, we applied frontal 40 Hz tAC stimulation during REM sleep for 2.5 min. Subjects were awakened 3 min after stimulation offset for dream reporting and administration of a scale to assess dream lucidity. Although several episodes of signal-verified dream consciousness were observed, these were equally frequent in SHAM and STIM conditions. Self-ratings of dream content also did not distinguish conditions. Therefore, the findings of the present study do not indicate that frontal gamma stimulation increases dreamed self-awareness as measured by real-time signal-verified lucid dreams and self-ratings of dreams. Several methodological considerations may have played a role in the negative findings, such as recruitment criteria, the eyes-closed practice signal and the indirect effects of tAC stimulation during the phosphene and sensation tests. The latter may have masked a real, albeit weak, tAC stimulation effect. Thus, many subjects were able to signal or report lucid dreams in this study, and this supports the notion that further study of lucid dreaming may lead to fruitful applications. Investigating lucid dreaming could be useful for increasing our knowledge of the physiological substrate of dreams, for clarifying theories of consciousness, and for developing potential clinical tools.

Funktionella neurologiska symtom är vanliga och funktionsnedsättande symtom som ofta anses svårbehandlade. En vanlig förklaringsmodell har varit att den drabbade varit med om något stressande och traumatiskt som lett till kroppsliga symtom. Denna förklaringsmodell leder till frågan om psykologisk behandling med fokus på trauma kan påverka funktionella neurologiska symtom. En systematisk litteraturöversikt, i enlighet med riktlinjer från Statens beredning för medicinsk och social utvärdering, har genomförts för att undersöka om psykologisk traumabehandling med kognitiv beteendeterapi och Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy kan minska funktionella neurologiska symtom vid symtom på komorbid posttraumatiskt stressyndrom. Resultaten av litteraturöversikten består av totalt 10 artiklar, merparten fallstudier. Slutsatsen av litteraturöversikten tyder på att den forskning som gjorts visar på minskning av funktionella neurologiska symtom efter behandling av symtom på posttraumatiskt stressyndrom. Detta forskningsområde är dock väldigt litet och består främst av fallstudier med något bristande kvalitet. Trots detta anser vi att det finns underlag för att rekommendera att det bör finnas ett fokus på erfarenheter av trauma vid bedömning av funktionella neurologiska symtom.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition caused by exposure to a traumatic event. Veterans are at especially high risk of PTSD. In Canada, in a survey conducted in 2016, 16% of Regular Force Veterans released during 1998-2015 reported having PTSD, which is at least two times higher than the estimated prevalence rate in the general population. Individuals with PTSD experience a range of debilitating symptoms, such as the intrusion of unwanted and distressing memories, persistent flashbacks, hypervigilance and nightmares. The neuropathophysiological mechanisms underlying symptoms of PTSD are not well understood, which remains a significant barrier to developing effective treatments. Hallmark PTSD symptoms such as hyperarousal and sleep disturbances may be related to dysregulation of noradrenaline (NA), a neurotransmitter produced in the locus coeruleus (LC) known to modulate cognition, arousal and sleep. This thesis examines the possible associations between dysregulation in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and dysfunction in NA-containing neurons in the LC among veterans with PTSD. Twenty-two operationally deployed veterans with a history of PTSD were recruited through the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre in Ontario, Canada. A novel, non-invasive neuroimaging method, neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (NM-MRI), was used to detect a by-product of NA called neuromelanin (NM) in the LC of each participant. Then a contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was calculated to obtain a marker of the NA function. The LC was segmented into three subdivisions to assess whether the association between NM and REM sleep may differ across regions of the LC. As hypothesized, we observed different associations between NM and REM sleep across regions of the LC. After controlling for antidepressant usage, there was (i) a moderate, negative, significant correlation between the percentage of REM sleep and rostral LCCNR, r(19) = -.476, p = .029, (ii) a weak positive non-significant correlation between the percentage of REM sleep and caudal LCCNR, r(19) = .33, p = .145, and (iii) no significant correlation between REM sleep percentage and LCCNR in the middle LC, r(19) = -.04, p = .876. This thesis is the first study to show that NM and REM sleep may be related in veterans with PTSD and that this relationship may vary across subdivisions of the LC. These results improve understanding of REM sleep among individuals with PTSD. The results may stimulate the investigation of novel pharmacotherapy focused on sleep disturbances in PTSD, the development of personalized treatments for PTSD, and the search for clinical biomarkers of PTSD based on brain function. The current study also made methodological contributions that may be applicable beyond the research on PTSD to the field of REM sleep and the NA system. Specifically, the current study showed the suitability of the NM-MRI method for examining the connections between NM and REM sleep, and it showed that segmenting the LC can lead to a more nuanced understanding of its role in the human body.

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