Next Seminar
Nicola Privato, Intelligent Instruments Lab
Date: 04 October 2023 at 12:00 Hrs. Madrid, 10:00 Reikiavik
Speaker: Nicola Privato,
PhD Researcher at Intelligent Instruments Lab
Abstract:
The Intelligent Instruments Lab is an ERC-funded project in Reykjavik, Iceland. At IIL we explore how creative intelligent technologies are shaping our understanding of the world and our social interactions. We use music as the ideal ground for our research as it is a place of intimate, first-person interaction with technology as well as a complex social experience.
My work at IIL focuses on building new interfaces and compositions that facilitate the understanding of AI algorithms and suggest playful musical interaction.
In this talk I will walk you though my first year at IIL, explore concepts such as Explainable AI, Embodiment, Agency, and on how these might be contextualised through the building of interfaces for Neural Synthesis models, through musical practice, sound spatialisation and participatory art.
Nicola Privato is a PhD researcher at IIL. His academic background is in Jazz studies, electronic music composition and linguistics. He performs both as a jazz guitarist and as an electronic musician, using self-built instruments and AI-based software. Formerly director of Keptorchestra, an Italian cultural association dealing with improvised music as a cultural catalyst, he has been incorporating participatory practices both in his works and as a curator.
His current research at IIL is on AI explainability and its framing within the sociality of musical practices.
www.nicolaprivato.com
Seminars
Dr. Pawel Tacikowski, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Date: 5 July 2023 at 2 pm
Speaker: Dr. Pawel Tacikowski, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Title: “The link between self-concept and own body perception”
Abstract
What makes us who we are? Is it the body we wake up in every morning and use as a “vehicle” throughout our daily activities? Or is it a collection of thoughts and beliefs about ourselves as individuals with specific skills, traits, and social identities? If it is a combination of the two, how would a unified sense of self emerge from such a fusion of conscious beliefs and bodily perceptual experience? In this talk, I will present a series of behavioral experiments where we used multisensory “body-swap” illusions to show that the perception of one’s own body dynamically shapes the content of self-concept, including gender identity. I will discuss the implications of these findings and future directions.
Bio
Pawel Tacikowski will soon start his Assistant Professor position at the University of Coimbra. He previously worked as an Assistant Project Scientist in the Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory at UCLA and as a postdoc in the Brain, Body, and Self Laboratory at Karolinska Institute. Dr. Tacikowski’s research focuses on how the human brain constructs a sense of self. His research aims to facilitate the development of new diagnostic tools and therapies for the atypical sense of self.
Philippe Pasquier (Simon Fraser) Metacreations Lab
Date: 26 July 2023 at 5 pm
Speaker: Philippe Pasquier, Associate Professor at Simon Fraser Unuversit
Abstract:
Creative AI is the scientific field that studies the partial or complete automation of creative tasks. Be it through the augmentation of existing creative software or through embedded real-time generation, these algorithms have a growing impact on creative practices. Creative AI will not take over the world, but it will certainly impact creators, students, educators, and the industry at large.
Now that generative algorithms have human-competitive skills for many creative tasks and are being deployed for professional and amateur alike, it is critical to evaluate and discuss the implications of such developments. We introduce challenges and opportunities arising through a series of examples of generative systems developed at the Metacreation Lab and experiments conducted with these systems. We will present interfaces for computer-assisted music composition, sound design, movement computing, generative animation and moving images, and discuss their common implications on creative processes and workflow. We will present results of evaluations conducted with the industry focusing on user experience, and technological acceptance, be it by creators or their audiences.
Bio:
Philippe Pasquier is a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology, where he directs the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI. He leads a research-creation program around generative systems for creative tasks. As such, he is a scientist specialized in artificial intelligence since 2001, a software designer, a multidisciplinary media artist, an educator, and a community builder. Pursuing a multidisciplinary research-creation program, his contributions bridge fundamental research on generative systems, machine learning, affective computing, and computer-assisted creativity, with applied research in the creative software industry, and artistic practice in interactive and generative art.
More about the Metacreation Lab: http://www.Metacreation.net
More about Philippe: http://www.sfu.ca/pasquier
Movement sonification for body perception
Date: 26 May 2023 at 2 pm
Speaker: María Concepción Valdez Gastelum, 2nd-year Ph.D. Student (CICESE, MX)
Title: Movement sonification for body perception
Abstract:
Recently the body of work in interactive sonification has made the compelling argument that understanding how to sonify the characteristics of movement is important and can alter one’s own perception (Knudsen et. al., 2017, Frid et. al., 2018). The characteristics of movements can be classified into two types according to their dynamics and qualities. Movement dynamics are the most commonly used characteristics and are related to the shape and trajectory of the movement, including examples like position, size, acceleration, and direction. In contrast, movement qualities refer to movement’s temporal and expressive aspects, including fluidity, contraction index, force, and velocity.
In this seminar, I will be presenting a case study where we explored the use of dynamics-based sonification to alter body and flexibility perception during yoga practice. Additionally, I will discuss the development of a movement-tracking algorithm designed to detect movement qualities during dance practice, with the aim of identifying abnormalities in movement behavior that may indicate concerns related to body image.
Touch for Material Recognition and Affective Communication
Dr. Hsin-Ni Ho, Kyushu University, Japan
Title: “Touch for Material Recognition and Affective Communication”
Touch is essential to our lives, playing crucial roles in both material recognition and affective communication. In recent years, haptic information presentation has gained traction in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality. In this presentation, I will discuss my research on utilizing touch to enhance material recognition and facilitate affective communication. My aim is to provide the audience with a fundamental understanding of haptics and spark interest in further research within this domain.
Exploring Multisensory Extended Reality Approaches for Autistic Children: Improve Well-Being and Assess Auditory Perception – Copy
Valentin Bauer, Paris-Saclay University, CNRS, LISN, VENISE team Title: Exploring Multisensory Extended Reality Approaches for Autistic Children: Improve Well-Being and Assess Auditory Perception
Cognitive and neural adaptations related to physical exercise
Date: 3 February 2023 Speaker: Daniel Sanabria Lucena, Universidad de Granada Abstract: This talk discusses evidence of the neural and cognitive functioning during physical exercise, together with an in-depth review of the alleged effects of regular exercise on cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the life span. In the first part
Characterization of EEG neural markers in the sensorimotor cortex when using movement sonification for walking ability
Date: 25th January 2023Speaker: Marta Matamala-Gomez Abstract: Little is known about responses to periodic auditory stimuli with periodicities found in human rhythmic behavior (0.5-5 Hz). However, some studies show a tonic synchronization response in the delta range, taken at the Cz-electrode, with a maximum response at 2 Hz, when using periodic
Wearable-Based Measurement of Skin Conductance: Issues and Applications
Date: Jan 18, 2023 Speaker: Susanna Spinsante. Università Politecnica delle Marche Abstract: Starting from some background information about the physiology of skin conductance, and the information encoded in skin conductance signals, the talk will present the wearable devices currently available to acquire this signal, and the associate measurement issues. Finally, an
It’s a Kind of Magic: Exploring Multisensorial Modulation of the Sense of Self through Bodily Movements and Action Observation in Depersonalisation
Date: 30th November 2022 Speaker: Angelia Caparco, Co-Embodied Self (CEL) Lab of the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Portugal Abstract: In ordinary daily life, subjective experience is characterised by a cohesive sense of self, i.e. the subjective first-personal ‘I’ or ‘self’, bound to the body and distinct from the
Understanding human affect through non-verbal cues
Date: 16th November 2022, Speaker: Prof. David Masip, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, AI-WELL laboratory. Abstract: Humans communicate our emotions using non-verbal language. One of the most studied affective computing informational cues is the analysis of facial expressions. Nevertheless, faces convey far more information than the 6 classical emotions defined in psychology.
Location specificity of tactile aftereffects
Date: 2 Nov 2022 Speakers: Elena Azañón, Otto von Guericke University Abstract: Adaptation aftereffects can reveal how the nervous system encodes sensory features. We have recently demonstrated that the distance between two tactile events is a property of somatosensation susceptible to adaptation. The reported aftereffects shared several characteristics with low-level visual
Sensorial design: feel, move, interact!
Date: 5 Oct 2022 Speakers: Kristi Kuusk and Dila Demir Abstract: Inspired from the design methods that embody movement-based thinking, we aim for designing with and for the multi-sensory experiences through the moving and the sensing body. We see sensorial design as a design approach that aims to design embodied interactions