Personalized maps created through artificial intelligence may guide individuals to improved well-being

 

BOSTON – Decades of longevity research have shown that psychological well-being is strongly tied to physical health, optimism, positive health behaviors, and lower risks of premature death. A team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Deep Longevity Limited recently used artificial intelligence to explore psychological well-being and to develop a framework for helping people improve their long-term life satisfaction.

As described in a study published in the journal Aging, the scientists developed a model based on a branch of artificial intelligence called deep learning.  The model relied on input from a psychological questionnaire that was used to estimate individuals’ psychological age (which reflects how old one feels, acts, and behaves), future well-being, and risk of depression. For each person, the team generated what’s called a self-organizing map that carried out an initial assessment of the individual’s level of well-being and propensity for depression, and then recommended personalized daily tips. The map consists of regions associated with high and low well-being—which may be considered “mountains” and “pits”—and reveals the shortest path between a person’s starting point and the point that maximizes their well-being.

An individual’s self-organizing map can be used to help direct cognitive behavioral therapy and other mental health interventions to provide a personalized path towards improved well-being that can be followed and tracked during therapy sessions. Or it can be used as a standalone self-help consumer app.

For the research, Nancy Etcoff, PhD, director of MGH’s Program in Aesthetics and Well-being teamed up with longevity experts at Deep Longevity Limited, including Fedor Galkin, Alex Zhavarankov, PhD, Kirill Kochetov, and Michelle Keller. “The deep learning model demonstrates that one’s baseline well-being is not the determining factor of future well-being, as posited by what’s known as the hedonic treadmill theory—which posits that people are doomed to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes,” says co-author Nancy Etcoff, PhD,  “In this work, we highlight aging-related trends in well-being and have brought forward a dynamic model of human psychology that allows maximizing one’s future level of happiness.”

Importantly, the investigators identified the most depression-prone psychological configurations in self-organizing maps and devised an algorithm that helps people move away from such dangerous mental states.

Publically available data from the MIDUS study was used for this research. The MIDUS study has been funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network and the National Institute on Aging.

About the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2021, Mass General was named #5 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America’s Best Hospitals." MGH is a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system.