The study, conducted at the Ontario Science Centre, looked at more than 1,000 children and adolescents from ages eight to 18. While boys and girls reported the same frequency of persistent pain – lasting three months or more – teenage girls experienced more anxiety and tended to catastrophize over pain to a greater degree than their male peers.  

“Boys who experience pain may feel less comfortable expressing their feelings because they are deemed socially inappropriate – or it may be that boys simply experience less anxiety in relation to pain,” says study lead author Samantha Fuss (MA ’10), a PhD student in psychology at 91��ɫ. “Even teenage girls who haven’t experienced persistent pain showed significantly higher levels of pain anxiety than boys their age.”   

Overall, 27 per cent of participants reported experiencing persistent pain. The study is published in the latest issue of the journal .

Study co-author Joel Katz, a 91��ɫ psychology professor and , says more research is needed to understand the psychological factors relating to pain in youth. 

Left: Joel Katz

“Persistent pain in children and teenagers isn’t a rare occurrence. There are gaps in our understanding of the time course of pain and the developmental trajectories,” Katz says. “For example, how does the presence of pain in these life stages relate to pain in adulthood?”

Researchers looked at psychological variables including anxiety, anxiety sensitivity and pain catastrophizing – a tendency to worry about pain and feel helpless in the face of it.

Boys 12 to 18 years of age were significantly more likely to experience persistent pain than younger boys, while there was no difference between age groups for girls.

Fuss points out that girls more frequently seek medical attention for illness and pain than do boys – which makes their findings all the more intriguing.

“Our sample wasn’t drawn from a clinical setting – such as interviewing patients at a walk-in clinic,” she says. “This is a fairly representative sample of Toronto children and adolescents who happened to be visiting the Science Centre with their parents.”

Katz notes that the greater prevalence of chronic pain in women versus men may be tied to psychological factors that appear in childhood.

“Anxiety sensitivity is thought to be a vulnerability factor for the development of chronic pain. The finding that girls had higher levels of anxiety sensitivity than boys may partly explain why the prevalence of chronic pain is greater in women than men,” he says.

“It’s a complex web to untangle in terms of physical versus psychological,” says Fuss. “Is it that the psychological experience of pain differs between the sexes – or even age groups – or is it differences in the physical experience of pain? How are they linked? These are certainly important questions in terms of diagnosis and pain management.”

Fuss’ research is supervised by Katz. Their work is funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship to Fuss, and a Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology to Katz.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Boys shrug off pain, girls 'catastrophize': 91��ɫ U study appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Papagiannis: “I began experimenting with AR in September 2005. When I saw AR for the first time, I was so entranced I think I entered a permanent state of wonder with the technology. And it was all very simple: a bare bones 3D virtual cube seemingly appearing in my physical space. It was completely astonishing! I went into mad scientist mode from there, tinkering, prototyping and dreaming of the creative possibilities for AR. Five-and-a-half years later, and I’m still riveted.

“I strongly believe AR is emerging as a new medium and it will come to play a large role in entertainment and information sharing…. I’d like to see more work move beyond the single-viewer experience in AR and engage larger audiences in a simultaneous viewing and even collaborative interactive experience. I think this is particularly relevant for museums in designing and producing AR experiences.”

is currently completing her PhD at 91��ɫ and is a senior research associate at the in 91��ɫ’s Department of Film in the Faculty of Fine Arts. Helen’s mixed-reality art installations were recently featured in a solo exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre, and at TEDx91��ɫu, where she was also an invited speaker. Prior to her augmented life, Helen was a member of the internationally renowned Bruce Mau Design studio, where she was project lead on Massive Change: The Future of Global Design, a touring exhibition and book published by Phaidon Press.

of the interview, Jan. 18. You can watch on youtube.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

The post PhD student, artist and researcher explores augmented reality's wonderment and play appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Papagiannis is an artist, designer and researcher specializing in augmented reality (AR). Hailed as being among the top 10 forces currently shaping the AR industry, has been working with AR since 2005, exploring the creative possibilities and theoretical implications for this exciting emerging technology. Recently, her interactive artworks were featured in an exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre. The Amazing Cinemagician: New Media Meets Victorian Magic was also featured at Tedx91��ɫu, providing an intriguing entrance through which attendees entered.

Papagiannis is completing her doctorate in communication and culture under the supervisor of Professor and Canada Research Chair Caitlin Fischer, and is a senior research associate at the . Prior to her graduate studies, Papagiannis was a member of the Bruce Mau Design studio, where she was project lead on .

You can view all of the Tedx91��ɫu talks via the event's .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

The post VIDEO: PhD student Helen Papagiannis' Tedx91��ɫu talk on wonder and creative process appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The exhibition features two interactive installations by new media artist and 91��ɫ PhD student Helen Papagiannis that use augmented reality (AR) technology, fog screen, and radio frequency identification (RFID).

AR – a layering of virtual information atop the physical environment – originated in the world of computer engineering but has recently emerged as a new trend in design, advertising and entertainment. Papagiannis is one of a handful of contemporary artists who have tapped into the creative potential of AR for interactive art. She was cited in the top 10 forces currently shaping the AR industry by leading AR news blog Games Alfresco, which named her “the new ARtist in charge” for her presentation last year at the International Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality in Florida.

"AR provides enormous opportunities for new modes of storytelling and visual experiences that can change the way we see and interact with the real world, but who is defining this new form?” asks Papagiannis, who is presently completing her doctorate in Communication and Culture at 91��ɫ, specializing in AR.“Now is a critical time for artists and designers to be involved as pioneers in driving this new technology and contributing to its creative future."

is a mixed reality work (merging real and virtual worlds) that projects film clips by Georges Méliès, the father of special effects, onto a fog screen. The audience can interact with the clips through RFID technology - the next evolution of retail bar codes, where small radio transponders emit a unique ID code. Each of the ethereal film clips is linked to a RFID chip embedded in a series of playing cards, which the viewer uses to activate the installation and display the images onto a translucent projection screen consisting of a thin curtain of dry fog.

Visitors to the exhibit can also interact with Papagiannis’ Wonder Turner, an AR experience where viewers physically rotate large cubes to reveal and create a new video composition. The cubes are equipped with black and white AR symbols which the software interprets and emits as video clips. Using the classic ‘exquisite corpse’ format with three interchangeable heads, torsos and feet, rotating the cubes allows the user to create a wild variety of creatures from a surgeon’s head, belly-dancing torso and penguin feet to a llama head, guitar-playing torso and trampoline feet, and other wondrous creations. An augmented video of the visitor with the transformed turner is simultaneously displayed on the screen.

“An important aspect of my work is the notion of play,” Papagiannis said. “Playfulness in the types of imagery you will see, and also in practice, in the physical involvement of play and exploring the work. I also love melding new digital technologies with older, analogue modes.”

Papagiannis has been exploring AR as a new creative visual force since 2005. She created The Amazing Cinemagician and Wonder Turner as part of her doctoral studies and her work as a senior research associate in the AR Lab, part of the interdisciplinary Future Cinema Lab research collective in the Faculty of Fine Arts at 91��ɫ.  She has exhibited her work at Interactive Arts festivals and conferences around the world, including the 2008 International Symposium for Electronic Arts (ISEA) in Singapore and the 2009 International Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) in Florida. She is an invited presenter at the upcoming Augmented Reality Event (ARE) 2010 in Silicon Valley, the first global event dedicated to advancing AR. Prior to her work in AR, Papagiannis was a member of the Bruce Mau Design studio, where she was project lead on “Massive Change: The Future of Global Design”, an international touring exhibition and book published by Phaidon Press.

and Wonder Turner will be on view at the Ontario Science Centre to August 31.

The Augmented Reality Lab and Future Cinema Lab at 91��ɫ

Directed by Film Professor Caitlin Fisher, , 91��ɫ’s Augmented Reality Lab is at the forefront in working with both established and emerging technologies to produce innovative research methods, interfaces and content that challenge cinematic and literary conventions and aim to enhance the ways in which people interact with their physical environment and with each other. This work grows increasingly important for Canada's culture and entertainment industries as AR and associated technologies become more prevalent.

The AR Lab is part of the : New Stories for New Screens, a collaborative research initiative at 91��ɫ. The first dedicated facility of its type in Canada, the Future Cinema Lab (FCL) fosters interdisciplinary research on the ways in which new digital storytelling techniques can critically transform a diverse array of state-of-the-art screens. The FCL is enabling researchers to design new forms of storytelling, develop prototypes for urban research, and create innovative projects within networked and hybrid media environments.

About the Idea Gallery at the Ontario Science Centre

Part of the Weston Family Innovation Centre, the Idea Gallery provides the opportunity for talented young and emerging artists and researchers to display innovative projects that blur traditional boundaries between art, science, design and technology.

By Amy Stewart, publicist, Faculty of Fine Arts.

The post 91��ɫ PhD student showcases "The Amazing Cinemagician" at the Ontario Science Centre appeared first on Research & Innovation.