Positive Technology Journal

From Usability News

Learning technologies have been taking an increasing role in almost all learning environments. They are used in a variety of informal and formal educational environments, from early years to university level and throughout adulthood, as well as in many commercial, industrial, and governmental settings. With the greater use of learning technologies it is critical to better understand how they interact with human cognition. Both in terms of how they may facilitate and enhance (as well as hinder) learning, and also in terms of how they affect the way we learn and acquire information, and the nature of cognition.

These issues pertain to specific technologies and to learning objectives. Specific technologies (and their usage) are important to understand in their own right; for example, how the use of electronic boards and visualization tools, e-learning, synchronic vs. a-synchronic remote learning, blackboard, simulation, virtual realities, and other technological learning environments affect learning and the learner. But also the learning technologies need to be considered and understood in light of learning objectives: not only the acquisition of information, but also the ability to retain and use it and the assessment of the effectiveness of the learning process. When considering how best to use learning technologies (and their vulnerabilities) one needs to be able to determine which learning materials and objectives are best suited for these technologies, which learning tools are most appropriate, and how to best use them. Furthermore, a fundamental issue to address is if and when learning technologies should replace traditional learning and when and how should learning technologies be blended with traditional learning.

Original and high quality papers that examine learning technologies either from an academic or from a practical perspective will be considered for publication. The first special issue of Pragmatics & Cognition devoted to Cognitive Technologies is now going to be published as a book. It is hoped that the Learning Technologies special issue will also appear in book form in the future.

Deadline for submissions: 30 June 2007 Publication: Summer 2008

More info here 

Via Brain Waves

MIT's media lab is hosting a one day conference Humans 2.0: New Minds, New Bodies, New Identities on May 9.

From the event's website:

Hosts: Hugh Herr and John Hockenberry

Doors open: 7:45 am

Program Start: 8:30 am

Master of Ceremonies: John Hockenberry
Welcome: Frank Moss
Introductory Remarks: Susan Hockfield
Keynote: Oliver Sacks

First Morning Session:
Deb Roy: "Memory Augmentation: Extending our Sense of Self"
Rosalind W. Picard: "Technology-Sense and People-Sensibility"
Cynthia Breazeal, "The Next Best Thing to Being There. Increasing the Emotional Bandwidth of Mediated Communication Using Robotic Avatars"

Break

Second Morning Session:
Ed Boyden: "Engineering the Brain: Towards Systematic Cures for Neural Disorders"
Douglas H. Smith: "The Brain is the Client: Designing a Back Door into the Nervous System"
John Donoghue, "New Successes in Direct Brain/Neural Interface Design"
"Solutions: A Conversation between John Hockenberry and Michael Graves"

Lunch

Afternoon Session:
Joseph Paradiso, "Digital Omniscience: Extending the Reach of the Body with Advanced Sensor Networks"
Panel Discussion: Hugh Herr, Aimee Mullins, Michael Chorost
William J. Mitchell, "Adaptability Writ Large: Smart Cities/Smarter Vehicles"
Hugh Herr, "New Horizons in Orthotics and Prosthetics: Merging Bodies and Machines"
Tod Machover, "Enabling Expression: Music as Ultimate Human Interface"

Program End: 4:30 pm

A MEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI).

Neuroimage. 2007 Mar 27;

Authors: Mellinger J, Schalk G, Braun C, Preissl H, Rosenstiel W, Birbaumer N, Kübler A

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow for communicating intentions by mere brain activity, not involving muscles. Thus, BCIs may offer patients who have lost all voluntary muscle control the only possible way to communicate. Many recent studies have demonstrated that BCIs based on electroencephalography (EEG) can allow healthy and severely paralyzed individuals to communicate. While this approach is safe and inexpensive, communication is slow. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides signals with higher spatiotemporal resolution than EEG and could thus be used to explore whether these improved signal properties translate into increased BCI communication speed. In this study, we investigated the utility of an MEG-based BCI that uses voluntary amplitude modulation of sensorimotor mu and beta rhythms. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio, we present a simple spatial filtering method that takes the geometric properties of signal propagation in MEG into account, and we present methods that can process artifacts specifically encountered in an MEG-based BCI. Exemplarily, six participants were successfully trained to communicate binary decisions by imagery of limb movements using a feedback paradigm. Participants achieved significant mu rhythm self control within 32 min of feedback training. For a subgroup of three participants, we localized the origin of the amplitude modulated signal to the motor cortex. Our results suggest that an MEG-based BCI is feasible and efficient in terms of user training.

Overt and imagined singing of an Italian aria.

Neuroimage. 2007 Mar 24;

Authors: Kleber B, Birbaumer N, Veit R, Trevorrow T, Lotze M

Activation maps of 16 professional classical singers were evaluated during overt singing and imagined singing of an Italian aria utilizing a sparse sampling functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) technique. Overt singing involved bilateral primary and secondary sensorimotor and auditory cortices but also areas associated with speech and language production. Activation magnitude within the gyri of Heschl (A1) was comparable in both hemispheres. Subcortical motor areas (cerebellum, thalamus, medulla and basal ganglia) were active too. Areas associated with emotional processing showed slight (anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula) activation. Cerebral activation sites during imagined singing were centered on fronto-parietal areas and involved primary and secondary sensorimotor areas in both hemispheres. Areas processing emotions showed intense activation (ACC and bilateral insula, hippocampus and anterior temporal poles, bilateral amygdala). Imagery showed no significant activation in A1. Overt minus imagined singing revealed increased activation in cortical (bilateral primary motor; M1) and subcortical (right cerebellar hemisphere, medulla) motor as well as in sensory areas (primary somatosensory cortex, bilateral A1). Imagined minus overt singing showed enhanced activity in the medial Brodmann's area 6, the ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), the anterior cingulate cortex and the inferior parietal lobe. Additionally, Wernicke's area and Brocca's area and their homologues were increasingly active during imagery. We conclude that imagined and overt singing involves partly different brain systems in professional singers with more prefrontal and limbic activation and a larger network of higher order associative functions during imagery.

Spirituality and addiction: a research and clinical perspective.

Am J Addict. 2006 Jul-Aug;15(4):286-92

Authors: Galanter M

Spirituality is a construct that has recently gained currency among clinicians because of its close association with twelve-step modalities and its perceived role in the promotion of meaningfulness in recovery from addiction. This article draws on studies from physiology, psychology, and cross-cultural sources to examine its nature and its relationship to substance use disorders. Illustrations of its potential and limitations as a component of treatment in spiritually oriented recovery movements like Alcoholics Anonymous, meditative practices, and treatment systems for the dually diagnosed are given.