This study investigates the relationship between heart-beat haptic feedback on interoceptive awareness and mental-wellbeing. Previous research showed non-significant results in short-term emotion regulation tasks when given heartbeat haptic feedback, suggesting the need for an extended adjustment training period to build trust with interoceptive feedback systems. To address this, the experimenters propose an in-the-wild study where participants wear a Bangle.js smartwatch for one week each under two conditions: (1) Real heartbeat feedback and (2) Off-set heartbeat feedback. This design aims to examine the influence of haptic feedback on psychological characteristics, including alexithymia, anhedonia, depression, anxiety, and general mental health. The experimenters will also explore the usability and comfort levels related to prolonged wearable use, as well as the participants' ability to distinguish between real and off-set heartbeat feedback, particularly across different levels of alexithymia traits.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
29
Participants wear a smartwatch during their waking hours which delivers pulses of vibration which can be matched to the frequency of the current heart rate (real condition) or heart rate from one hour ago (sham condition)
MIT Media Lab
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale
Measured by the standard scoring procedure in each lab visit at the start of the week. Decrease is considered an improvement.
Time frame: Difference from measurement at the start of each arm to end of each arm (1 week span)
Interoceptive accuracy
Interoceptive accuracy measured using SensHb (slope of the correlation of estimated heart rate with smartwatch-recorded heart rate measured over three 1-minute measurement periods during the in-lab questionnaire)
Time frame: 1 week (difference between SensHB at the start of each arm and the end of each arm)
Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale
Measured at the lab visit at the start of each week. We sum the pleasure rating for each item so the score represents overall hedonic capacity (opposite of anhedonia). Increase is considered improvement
Time frame: Difference from measurement at the start of each arm to end of each arm (1 week span)
General Anxiety Disorder-7 Anxiety Scale
Measured by the standard scoring procedure in each lab visit at the start of the week. Decrease is considered an improvement.
Time frame: Difference from measurement at the start of each arm to end of each arm (1 week span)
Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 Alexithymia Scale
Measured by the standard scoring procedure in each lab visit at the start of the week. Decrease is considered an improvement.
Time frame: Difference from measurement at the start of each arm to end of each arm (1 week span)
General Health Questionnaire-12 General Mental Distress scale
Measured by the standard scoring procedure in each lab visit at the start of the week. Decrease is considered an improvement.
Time frame: Difference from measurement at the start of each arm to end of each arm (1 week span)
Interoceptive confidence
Self rated confidence in the accuracy of heartbeat count
Time frame: 1 week (measure difference between start and end of each arm)
Interoceptive awareness
Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness -2 total score. Increase indicates improved interoceptive awareness.
Time frame: Start of each arm to end of each arm (1 week)
Daily mood
Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) positive-negative axis measured each day. Increase indicates increased positive affect.
Time frame: 1 week (measured each day of the arm)
Daily mood variability
Standard deviation of the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) positive-negative mood axis across all the days in an arm. Increase indicates increased emotional variability.
Time frame: 1 week (measured each day of the arm)
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