[2F3-OS-4b] [Organized Session] OS-4

[2F3-OS-4b-01] Direction to quantifying well-being: Visualizing mindfulness based on functional brain network

〇Satoru Hiwa¹, Tomoyuki Hiroyasu¹ (1. Doshisha University)

Keywords:Well-being Computing, Functional brain network, Mindfulness

In this paper, authors claim that one of the best way to promote our well-being is to be aware of states of our own well-being. Therefore it is necessary to quantify and visualize the degree of well-being. Here we focus on quantifying psychological well-being, and consider achieving it based on neuroimaging technologies such as fMRI and fNIRS. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel method to define the brain activity pattern occurs during a certain mental state—referred to as a ’metastate’—using data-driven approach. The metastate is modeled as a functional connectivity network, and its characteristic structure is determined by evolutionary computation. The effectiveness of our proposed method is validated on the fMRI data measured during meditation said to improve our psychological well-being. The experimental results revealed that the metastate found by our method can be utilized to quantify how well we can meditate. It will also lead to quantifying our well-being.