Neuroadaptive visualisation of subjective perception

In this project, we used EEG responses to faces generated using a neural network to model psychological processes. In this video, I present a demo on how this works on the topic of attractiveness. Based on EEG responses to hundreds of ‘fake’ faces, the neural network model learns what an individual person finds personally attractive. By using this information, we generated completely new faces, which we predicted would be personally attractive to single subjects. We showed this novel type of brain-computer interface performed accurately in more than 80% of cases.

Demo video (copyright: Spapé)

The results, published in IEEE Transaction in Affective Computing received strong media attention, with over 100 articles in the popular press covering the research (e.g. Science DailyVICEDaily MailRT, Independent TurkeyThanh NiênDigital Trendsاليوم السابع中文业界资讯站El DarioAl AlamMed IndiaNachrichten Welt,Helsingin Sanomat).

Action, imagination, and time perception

Our sense of the passage of time is well known to be affected by seeing movement, but if action is essential to awareness itself (see Home), might our awareness of time be due to the relationship between our actions and seeing them unfold in time? I am currently exploring this exciting topic as part of the EU VirtualTimes project. According to my theories, this setup will result in biased time perception, in the same way that a snail feels the passage of time different from a shrew. In the video below, I explain how this works (to an online conference in experimental psychology – Psychonomics – so I’m sorry if some in-jokes won’t land!)

Science talk (copyright: Spapé) for Psychonomics Annual Meeting 2021.

But what if you the imagination is no longer purely ‘in your head’, but affects the world around you? In the demo below, we show a kind of cybernetic system in which movement imagery is translated to the velocity of a starfield: Imagine moving fast will result in reaching lightspeed – so to speak. The question is: how does control affect time perception?

Demo video (copyright: Spapé) for EU project deliverable.

Other media

  • 15/04/2021: Interviewed by Greg Noone for Tech Monitor, published here.
  • 13/03/2021: Interviewed by Russia’s non-state TV station NTV to talk about BCI and EEG.
  • 11/03/2021: Appeared on Dublin radio FM104 to talk about BCI and EEG.
  • 18/11/2015: On YLE’s Prisma Studio, talking about virtual reality, racial prejudice and psychophysiology. YLE Areena link. The interview was further covered in three YLE articles.
  • 18/11/2014: Appeared on YLE (Finnish National TV) popular science programme Prisma Studio, talking about social, psychological and psychophysiological aspects of gaming. The show is in Finnish, apart from this bit (about 19 minutes in). YLE Areena.
  • 21/11/2013: This article on brains synchronising in competitive gameplay got quite a bit of coverage, for example on CNET.