WO2014115053A1

WO2014115053A1 - Means for assisting human information processing

Info

Publication number: WO2014115053A1
Application number: PCT/IB2014/058229
Authority: WO
Inventors: Boris Emmanuel Rachmund De Ruyter; Saskia VAN DANTZIG; Pavankumar Murli Dadlani Mahtani
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
Priority date: 2013-01-23
Filing date: 2014-01-13
Publication date: 2014-07-31

Abstract

In many contexts it may be desirable to influence a person's (P) emotional and cognitive processing style. One such context is a shared decision making process where a patient is actively involved in the decision process on the approach towards therapy. A system (100) for assisting human information processing, comprises a first device (110) for presenting first stimuli (S1) to the person (P) that influence emotional processing of information and a second device (120) for presenting second stimuli (S2) to the person (P) that influence cognitive processing of information. The first device (110) and/or the second device (120) comprises a lighting system. The first stimuli (S1) are selected from the group consisting of dimmed light, warm light, indirect light, and images of emotionally relaxing contents. The second stimuli (S2) are selected from the group consisting of bright light, cold light, and direct light.

Description

Means for assisting human information processing

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a system and a method for assisting human information processing, particularly for assisting the processing of information that is emotionally challenging to a person and simultaneously requires proper cognitive processing. An example of this is the discussion of a suitable therapy with a patient shortly after telling a bad diagnosis.

BACKGROUND ART

In a shared decision making process a patient is actively involved in the decision process on the approach towards therapy. However, often patients are not really able to effectively participate in such a process, particularly if they have just received bad news (for example, that they have cancer) and are immediately thereafter confronted with a lot of information for the discussion of possible treatment options.

SUMMARY

In view of the above, it would be desirable to improve the information processing of persons in emotionally demanding situations, for example in a shared decision making process with a patient who has just received bad news.

These concerns are addressed by a system according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 2. Preferred embodiments are disclosed in the dependent claims.

A system according to an embodiment of the invention comprises the following components:

a) A first device for presenting first stimuli to a person that influence (preferably enhance) the emotional processing of information.

b) A second device for presenting second stimuli to a person that influence (preferably enhance) the cognitive processing of information.

A related method for assisting human information processing comprises the steps of

a) Exposing a person to first stimuli that influence (preferably enhance) emotional processing of information. b) Exposing said person to second stimuli that influence (preferably enhance) the cognitive processing of information.

The system and the method are different realizations of the same inventive concept. Explanations and definitions provided for one of these realizations are therefore analogously valid for the other realization, too.

The system and the method have the advantage that environmental stimuli are used in order to assist a person, particularly in a stressful situation, to properly process information both emotionally and cognitively.

In the following various preferred embodiments of the invention are described that can be realized both in combination with the system and the method described above.

The above mentioned stimuli may in general address any one or several of the human senses, particularly vision, hearing, smelling and/or tactile sensation. The first device and/or the second device may for instance particularly comprise (or be) a lighting system for presenting optical stimuli.

In a preferred embodiment, the first stimuli may comprise one or more stimuli selected from the group consisting of:

dimmed light, particularly light having an illuminance of less than about 500 Lux, preferably of about 200 Lux or less;

warm light, particularly light having a color temperature of less than about 4000 K, preferably of about 3000 K or less;

indirect light (i.e. light the source of which is not directly visible); and images of emotionally relaxing contents, for example photographs of a landscape.

The second stimuli may preferably comprise one or more stimuli selected from the group consisting of:

bright light, particularly light with an illuminance of about 1000 Lux or more;

cold light, particularly light with a color temperature between about 4000 K and about 6500 K or more; and

- direct light.

In general, the first stimuli and the second stimuli may be presented in any temporal order, including a parallel presentation and/or a repetitive alternation. In a preferred embodiment, the first stimuli are followed by the second stimuli. This allows a person to first optimally process the emotional content of a piece of information, such that a higher concentration and effectiveness of a later cognitive processing may be achieved.

The transition from the first stimuli to the second stimuli may preferably occur immediately (e.g. within less than about 10 s, preferably less than about 2 s), thus creating a level of alertness that additionally enhances the ensuing cognitive processing of information.

The transition from the first stimuli to second stimuli and/or vice versa may be controlled by a fixed, preprogrammed time schedule, or may manually be triggered by a user. In a preferred embodiment, said transition is triggered by a detector for detecting at least one of the following situations:

- The presence of a particular member of a group of persons (i.e. of a particular person if said group has only one member), for example the presence of a physician.

A particular configuration of objects and/or persons, for example the presence of a group of persons sitting at a table.

- The identification of a predetermined electronic identifier, for example an RFID tag.

The utterance of a keyword or a key-phrase during a conversation. A specific gesture or movement, e.g. of hand/arm in the air.

In order to further enhance the cognitive processing of information, the second stimuli may comprise phases of different characteristics that are switched in dependence on the type of information to be processed, helping a person to distinguish between these different types of information. The different characteristics of the second stimuli may for example comprise different colors of light.

In a further development of the aforementioned embodiment, the information to be processed is recorded, for example by writing or by an audio or video recorder, together with stimuli of the associated characteristics. A person who later considers this recorded information will then better remember the emotional and cognitive processing that has already been done. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter. In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows schematically an embodiment of a system for assisting human information processing during the presentation of first stimuli that enhance emotional processing of information;

Fig. 2 shows the system of Figure 1 during the presentation of second stimuli that enhance cognitive processing of information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The invention will in the following be illustrated with respect to the example of a shared decision making process in medicine and the usage of optical stimuli. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show schematically an associated situation of a conversation between a patient P and a clinician C.

In many contexts it may be desirable to influence a person's emotional and cognitive processing style. One such context is a shared decision making process where a patient is actively involved in the decision process on the approach towards therapy.

However, often the patient is not in the most suitable emotional and cognitive state to effectively participate in such process.

For example, when localized prostate cancer patients get the bad news that they have a tumour in their prostate, they need to decide together with their clinician what the best option is from a choice of several treatment options. These discussions typically take place immediately after getting the bad news, and are constrained in time.

A typical result of this situation is that the patient is not performing well in dealing with the emotions elicited by the specifics of the context. Additionally, the patient will typically have difficulties in cognitively processing the presented information and as a result will have to revisit the information frequently in order to have sufficient insight in his medical situation to participate in the shared decision making process.

Current practice does not give patients the time and space to express their emotions once they receive the bad news (for example, that they have cancer). Instead, in an attempt to save time, immediately after giving the bad news, clinicians bombard patients with a lot of information and discuss the possible treatment options. Because patients are typically in shock after receiving the bad news, they have difficulties assimilating and remembering the provided information. As a result, patients often ask repetitive questions and clinicians have to repeat the same information over and over again. Patients tend to come back with questions, email or call the clinicians to clarify treatment options and information, putting an additional burden to clinicians. Furthermore, it is in general desirable to increase patient satisfaction and overall patient experience.

An embodiment of the invention relates to a system and a method for influencing a person's emotional and cognitive processing style, for example through dynamic lighting. Another embodiment of the invention further relates to a lighting system with two lighting characteristics and a transition between those two characteristics.

To address these issues, a method is proposed to influence a person's emotional and cognitive processing style through dynamic lighting. The associated (lighting) system 100 is schematically illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. It comprises the following components:

A first device (here a first lamp 110) for presenting first stimuli SI to the patient P that influences emotional processing of information, wherein the influencing is preferably an enhancement.

A second device (here a second lamp 120) for presenting second stimuli S2 to the patient P that influence cognitive processing of information, wherein the influencing is preferably an enhancement.

A detector, here a microphone 130 coupled to a controller 140 (computer), for detecting a key phrase in the words spoken by the clinician C that triggers switching between the activities of the first and second lamp 110 and 120, respectively.

In a typical procedure consisting of three different steps, the lighting system 100 present in a room will first provide a dimmed lighting atmosphere (e.g. 150 Lux horizontally) of warm light SI (e.g. 2800K). This light SI is provided in an indirect manner through upwards lighting by the first lamp 110. Under this lighting atmosphere a person's emotional state will be influenced and will support the person to emotionally deal with the presented information. During this step a person is encouraged and allowed to express the emotions that he or she is experiencing due to the presented information.

After this first step a sudden transition to a bright light atmosphere (e.g. 1500 Lux horizontally) of cold light S2 (e.g. 5000K) emitted by the second lamp 120 is presented. This sudden and quick transition will induce alertness and enhance a cognitive processing style to optimize understanding and assimilation of the information. After the transition the person will remain in the bright cold-lighting atmosphere. During this third step the person's cognitive concentration will be enhanced, supporting a more effective cognitive processing style for dealing with the information. Under this lighting condition the patients' vigilance is increased, making them more attentive. Additionally, given that the person has been supported to have a more optimal emotional processing style during the first step of the process, a more optimal cognitive processing style will be supported.

In between several consults the lighting can optionally switch to a relaxing atmosphere to help clinicians and/or patients relax in between stressful consults. Thus, it allows the clinician to set to a personal atmosphere (e.g. warm dimmed light). The transition can for example be triggered manually or verbally.

The above method builds on several well documented effects of lighting on the expression of emotions and the processing of information:

Low illuminance environments (150 Lux) induce a global processing style (holistic). In high illuminance environments (1500 Lux) a local processing style (detail- oriented) is induced.

Under low levels of lighting more positive affect, feelings of relaxation and intimacy are reported compared to high levels of lighting.

Dimmed warm light (2700 K) leads to the impression of a relaxing and intimate atmosphere, while bright cool light (5000 K) is associated with comfort and spaciousness.

An embodiment of the invention hence relates to a method for influencing a person's emotional and cognitive information processing style through a lighting system comprising the steps of: (1) creating a dimmed warm-light atmosphere followed by (2) a sudden/immediate transition to a bright cold-light atmosphere.

Optionally, one or more of the following features may be realized:

downlight for step (1) and uplight for step (2);

sudden (immediate) transition;

warm light having about 2800K;

dimmed light having about 150 Lux;

cold light having about 5000K

bright light having about 1500 Lux.

It should however be noted that the lighting specifics (illuminance, temperature) may largely vary to have the same effect.

The trigger of the different lighting stages can be done by different methods. For example, by detecting the presence of the clinician and the type of clinician (e.g. doctor vs. nurse) by means of RFID, bluetooth or similar near field communication technologies, the lighting or atmosphere in the room would switch accordingly. Alternatively, contextual cues can be used, for example, if there are multiple people in the sitting area leaning forward suggests that an active conversation is taking place while people laying back on their chairs suggests people being in a less active and relaxing mode. As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the lighting stages can also be triggered by speech recognition by the clinician giving voice commands or detecting key phrases in the discussion. Additionally or alternatively, a system can monitor gestures and/or movements from the clinician and/or the patient and trigger the light stages by recognizing specific gestures and movements.

The concept can be further enriched with other environmental stimuli. For example, once the patient and family member(s) are given the bad news and the upward dimmed lighting stage is on, a projection on the wall(s) can be provided to complement the lighting setting. These projections would be of nature views that are not static but show subtle changes (e.g. light snowfalls, leaves moving with the wind, etc.). Patients would typically be left alone under this atmosphere for some time to help them digest the news, before the clinician returns to give them more detailed information. Upon the return of the clinician, the sudden change to bright light is experienced to promote alertness.

An additional feature could focus on enhancing the memorization and retrieval of information about the different treatment options, by associating each treatment option with a particular color. It is known that providing various contextual cues (e.g., different screen colors, music, smell) during learning promotes the storage of separate memory traces. When the same contextual cues are presented again when the memory traces have to be retrieved, these cues facilitate memory retrieval, a phenomenon called 'context-dependent memory'. The beneficial effects of providing contextual cues may be more pronounced for elderly people.

Contextual cues could be implemented in the following way: during the consultation with the clinician, each treatment option is associated with a particular color, which is presented through ambient lighting while that treatment option is discussed. For example, while surgery is discussed, green light is presented, which is switched to purple when radiotherapy is discussed. When the same colors are also used to distinguish the different treatment options in a take-home information brochure or digital decision aid tool, this provides congruency between the consultation and the take-home information, and thereby facilitates memory retrieval.

The proposed system and method involve a significant enhanced patient experience. They can be applied in the areas of Ambient Experience, Ambient Healing Environments, Lighting for Health and Wellbeing, Patient centric solutions, patient experience.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless

telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A system (100) for assisting human information processing, comprising: a) a first device (110) for presenting first stimuli (SI) to a person (P) that influence emotional processing of information;

b) a second device (120) for presenting second stimuli (S2) to a person (P) that influence cognitive processing of information.

2. A method for assisting human information processing, said method comprising the following steps:

a) exposing a person (P) to first stimuli (SI) that influence emotional processing of information;

b) exposing said person (P) to second stimuli (S2) that influence cognitive processing of information.

3. The system (100) according to claim 1,

characterized in that the first device (110) and/or the second device (120) comprises a lighting system.

4. The system (100) according to claim 1 or the method according to claim 2, characterized in that the first stimuli (SI) are selected from the group consisting of dimmed light, warm light, indirect light, and images of emotionally relaxing contents.

5. The system (100) or the method according to claim 4,

characterized in that dimmed light has an illuminance of about 200 Lux or less.

6. The system (100) or the method according to claim 4,

characterized in that the warm light has a color temperature of about 3000 K

7. The system (100) according to claim 1 or the method according to claim 2, characterized in that the second stimuli (S2) are selected from the group consisting of bright light, cold light, and direct light.

8. The system (100) or the method according to claim 7,

characterized in that the bright light has an illuminance of about 1000 Lux or more.

9. The system (100) or the method according to claim 7,

characterized in that the cold light has a color temperature of about 4000 K or more.

10. The system (100) according to claim 1 or the method according to claim 2, characterized in that the first stimuli (S I) are followed by the second stimuli (S2).

1 1. The system (100) according to claim 1 or the method according to claim 2, characterized in that the transition from first stimuli (SI) to second stimuli (S2) is immediate.

12. The system (100) according to claim 1 or the method according to claim 2, characterized in that the transition from first stimuli (SI) to second stimuli (S2) or vice versa is triggered by a detector (130, 140) for detecting at least one of the following situations:

presence of a particular member of a group of persons (P);

identification of a predetermined electronic identifier;

particular configuration of objects and/or persons (P);

utterance of at keyword or key-phrase;

a specific gesture or movement.

13. The system (100) according to claim 1 or the method according to claim 2, characterized in that the second stimuli (S2) comprise phases of different characteristics that are switched in association with the type of information to be processed.

14. The system (100) or the method according to claim 13, characterized in that the different characteristics comprise different colors.

15. The system (100) or the method according to claim 13,

characterized in that the information to be processed is recorded together with stimuli of the associated characteristics.