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Tracking the effect of a new massage system integrated in automotive seat on relaxation feeling: an electrophysiological study.

Audrey Breton1*, Vincenzo Ronca1*, Samuel Baudu2, Emmanuelle Brunet2, Romaric SERVAJEAN-HILST3, Thibaud Dumas1 and Yohan Attal1
  • 1 myBrain Technologies, Neuroscience Research, France
  • 2 Faurecia Automotive Seating, France
  • 3 École Polytechnique, CRG-i3, France

Physical comfort is a key concept of neuroergonomics. Many industrial actors are today facing the challenge of integrating more and more consumers’ preferences and ratings for designing their products. Automotive Industry is no exception and has also to provide answers to market trends such as Health, Well-being expectations. Thus, new systems are now designed to specifically improve the comfort level of the seat occupant. However, their impacts on the physical comfort still need to be assessed beyond declarations of users. In this study, we investigated the impact of a new massage system on user’s comfort. This system is based on a pneumatic device that inflates and deflates distinct air bladders directly integrated in the car’s seat, in a rhythmic way and at a particular pressure. We included a sample of forty-two participants and combined both subjective and objective measurements to fully characterize the modulation of physical comfort induced by the massage system’s use. This project was conducted in partnership with Faurecia, an automotive company developing, among others, innovative systems associated to seats. All the experimental sessions were performed in a car placed in a conference room and equipped with Faurecia’s massage seat in the backrest. EEG data have been collected using a headset composed of eight dry electrodes. The study was performed in single-blind: participants were randomly assigned either to the massage group, and effectively received a massage, or to the control group. Two speakers were included behind the seat so that participants in the control condition were only hearing the noise associated with the air-flow device functioning without receiving any physical massage This group serves as a reference to evaluate the effectiveness of the mechanical massage on the user’s relaxation level. The protocol was divided in three phases. The first phase corresponded to a baseline measurement during which the participant was asked to stay in a resting state as still as possible while the EEG signal was recorded for two minutes. He then had to evaluate his anxiety and relaxation states on two standard questionnaires. In the second phase, the participant was asked to perform a visual imagery task. During this task, he had to imagine a situation in which he receives a massage while remaining seated in a comfortable position. In the same time, the mechanical massage (massage group) or a mock massage (control group) was applied. This phase lasted 10 minutes. Then, during the last phase, a second EEG resting-state was recorded for two minutes and the same questionnaires were completed. We focused our analysis on power modulation of specific oscillatory components known to be sensitive to massage-induced relaxation and EEG-based indexes such as the Approach Withdrawal (AW) captured by the asymmetry of alpha power between the left and right frontal regions. Two key findings emerged from this study: i) subjective and electrophysiological data were influenced by the massage system ii) specific EEG-based indexes were sensitive to the massage condition. The behavioral responses clearly indicated that the activation of the massage seat has a positive effect on the level of relaxation. Participants in the massage group demonstrated a strong increase of their relaxation level as well as a decrease of their perceived stress. Interestingly, the experimental manipulation affected more the sustained stress level (perceived in general) than the transient stress level (perceived in the moment). One could have expected the opposite modulation, given that the massage session was not repeated in time. Moreover, this effect in the post-session was not observed for participants in the control group. Thus, this indicates that the stress relief and the relaxation improvement were specifically related to mechanical massage itself, and not only to the context associated to the task. At the brain level, the difference in alpha power between the left and the right hemisphere was influenced by the experimental manipulation. Precisely, the frontal alpha asymmetry was higher, corresponding to an alpha power decrease in the left frontal region after the massage session compared to before and compared to the control group. This modulation reflected a shift of activity toward the left brain hemisphere in the frontal region. Such a shift in alpha asymmetry, particularly in the frontal region, has previously been associated with positive valence and increased comfort sensation in several studies conducted on the effect of manual massages. It has also been observed when depression symptoms were alleviated by massage therapy. Altogether, these results brought new insights on the neural representation of the physical comfort sensation driven by relaxation. At the industrial level, this study provides objective evidences supporting the impact of Faurecia’s massage system on user’s comfort. More generally, it opens avenue for future neuroergonomic evaluation of comfort as well as novel classification methodologies of automotive systems including more the neuroscientific approach.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Valentin Rivaud, Nicolas Pourchier and Martin Vandendriessche for building the EEG headset used during the experiments, Anne-Isabelle DA COSTA for helping us in the participants recruitment.

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Keywords: Automative Massage State, relaxation feelings, Frontal Alpha Asymmetry (FAA), Time frequency analysis, Approach Withdrawal, State-trait anxiety inventory

Conference: 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 27 Jun - 29 Jun, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Neuroergonomics

Citation: Breton A, Ronca V, Baudu S, Brunet E, SERVAJEAN-HILST R, Dumas T and Attal Y (2019). Tracking the effect of a new massage system integrated in automotive seat on relaxation feeling: an electrophysiological study.. Conference Abstract: 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.227.00018

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Received: 30 Mar 2018; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019.

* Correspondence:
PhD. Audrey Breton, myBrain Technologies, Neuroscience Research, Paris, 75010, France, audrey.breton@mybraintech.com
Dr. Vincenzo Ronca, myBrain Technologies, Neuroscience Research, Paris, 75010, France, vincenzo.ronca@mybraintech.com