Positive Technology Journal - research_tools

A History of Game Controllers Diagram

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:21:00 +0100

image by Damien Lopez (via James Burke)

Social Media counts

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:34:00 +0100

A virtual reality-based system integrated with fmri to study neural mechanisms of action observation-execution

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:22:00 +0200

A virtual reality-based system integrated with fmri to study neural mechanisms of action observation-execution: A proof of concept study.

Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2009;27(3):209-23

Authors: Adamovich SV, August K, Merians A, Tunik E

Purpose: Emerging evidence shows that interactive virtual environments (VEs) may be a promising tool for studying sensorimotor processes and for rehabilitation. However, the potential of VEs to recruit action observation-execution neural networks is largely unknown. For the first time, a functional MRI-compatible virtual reality system (VR) has been developed to provide a window into studying brain-behavior interactions. This system is capable of measuring the complex span of hand-finger movements and simultaneously streaming this kinematic data to control the motion of representations of human hands in virtual reality. Methods: In a blocked fMRI design, thirteen healthy subjects observed, with the intent to imitate (OTI), finger sequences performed by the virtual hand avatar seen in 1st person perspective and animated by pre-recorded kinematic data. Following this, subjects imitated the observed sequence while viewing the virtual hand avatar animated by their own movement in real-time. These blocks were interleaved with rest periods during which subjects viewed static virtual hand avatars and control trials in which the avatars were replaced with moving non-anthropomorphic objects. Results: We show three main findings. First, both observation with intent to imitate and imitation with real-time virtual avatar feedback, were associated with activation in a distributed frontoparietal network typically recruited for observation and execution of real-world actions. Second, we noted a time-variant increase in activation in the left insular cortex for observation with intent to imitate actions performed by the virtual avatar. Third, imitation with virtual avatar feedback (relative to the control condition) was associated with a localized recruitment of the angular gyrus, precuneus, and extrastriate body area, regions which are (along with insular cortex) associated with the sense of agency. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the virtual hand avatars may have served as disembodied training tools in the observation condition and as embodied "extensions" of the subject's own body (pseudo-tools) in the imitation. These data advance our understanding of the brain-behavior interactions when performing actions in VE and have implications in the development of observation- and imitation-based VR rehabilitation paradigms.

Amazing optical illusion

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:54:45 +0200

This picture appears to show green and blue spirals, but in fact the apparent green and blue are exactly the same colour.

More about this here and here.

Open Source Eye-Tracker

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:46:17 +0200

Via Mauro Cherubini's blog

The Gaze Group at the IT University of Copenhagen is developing an open-source eye-tracking application that will provide a low-cost alternative to commercial gaze tracking systems. The ITU Gaze Tracker is video-based and works with any videocamera or a webcam equipped with infrared nightvision

More to explore: San Agustin, J., Skovsgaard, H., Hansen, J. P., and Hansen, D. W. 2009. Low-cost gaze interaction: ready to deliver the promises. In Proceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA ‘09. ACM, New York, NY, 4453-4458.

The Allosphere: an immersive virtual reality system to visualize scientific data

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:35:00 +0200

The need for computing tools that allows to visualize, explore and manipulate huge multidimensional data is becoming a key priority in several fields of science and engineering

From this perspective, an interesting possibility is the use of Immersive Virtual Reality. For example, researchers at the California NanoSystem Institute lead by Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin have created the AlloSphere, an interactive chamber made of two 5-meter-radius hemispheres of perforated aluminum that are designed to be optically opaque and acoustically transparent.

There are currently two projectors, mounted around the seam between the two hemispheres, approaching eye-limited resolution on the inner surface. The loudspeaker real-time sound synthesis cluster (around 500 individual speaker elements plus sub-woofers) is suspended behind the aluminum screen resulting in 3-D audio. Other clusters include simulation, sensor-array processing, effector-array processing, real-time video processing for motion-capture and visual computing, render-farm/real-time ray-tracing and radiosity cluster, and content and prototyping environments.

You can tour the Allosphere in this stunning video:

Here is an exterior photo of the AlloSphere @ the California Nanosystem Institute

Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:41:53 +0100

The new open-access journal "Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine" is online.

ARCTT is a peer-reviewed journal covering a wide variety of topics of interest to the mental health, neuroscience, and rehabilitation communities.

The mission of ARCTT is to provide systematic, periodic examinations of scholarly advances in the field of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine through novel experimental clinical studies or critical authoritative reviews. It is directed to healthcare providers and researchers who are interested in the applications of advanced media for improving the delivery and efficacy of mental healthcare and rehabilitative services.

Crowdfunding for science

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:20:00 +0200

I and my colleague Giuseppe Riva have just published a letter in Science, where we propose crowd-funding - a form of crowdsourcing applied to finance - as a possible strategy to cope with the lack of investments in research.

The full text of the article is available here: gaggioli_riva_science08.pdf

Video (Italian only)

TrackFly: Virtual reality for a behavioral system analysis in free-flying fruit flies

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:33:49 +0200

TrackFly: Virtual reality for a behavioral system analysis in free-flying fruit flies.

J Neurosci Methods. 2008 Mar 8;

Authors: Fry SN, Rohrseitz N, Straw AD, Dickinson MH

Modern neuroscience and the interest in biomimetic control design demand increasingly sophisticated experimental techniques that can be applied in freely moving animals under realistic behavioral conditions. To explore sensorimotor flight control mechanisms in free-flying fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), we equipped a wind tunnel with a Virtual Reality (VR) display system based on standard digital hardware and a 3D path tracking system. We demonstrate the experimental power of this approach by example of a 'one-parameter open loop' testing paradigm. It provided (1) a straightforward measure of transient responses in presence of open loop visual stimulation; (2) high data throughput and standardized measurement conditions from process automation; and (3) simplified data analysis due to well-defined testing conditions. Being based on standard hardware and software techniques, our methods provide an affordable, easy to replicate and general solution for a broad range of behavioral applications in freely moving animals. Particular relevance for advanced behavioral research tools originates from the need to perform detailed behavioral analyses in genetically modified organisms and animal models for disease research.

Nature Precedings

noreply@blogspirit.com (Andrea Gaggioli) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:08:22 +0100

Nature Precedings is a place for researchers to share pre-publication research, unpublished manuscripts, presentations, posters, white papers, technical papers, supplementary findings, and other scientific documents. Submissions are screened by our professional curation team for relevance and quality, but are not subjected to peer review. Contributions range from biology and medicine (except clinical trials) to chemistry and the earth sciences.