Musica ex machina:a history of video game music

The history of video game music is a subject area that has received little attention by musicologists, and yet the form presents fascinating case studies both of musical minimalism, and the role of technology in influencing and shaping both musical form and aesthetics. This presentation shows how video game music evolved from simple tones, co-opted from sync circuits in early hardware to a sophisticated form of adaptive expression

Prepare to Pivot: Shifting from the projection surface to the Zoom screen necessitated by global pandemic

Design for theatre is an endeavor in which the physical, the corporeal, the defined, is applied to an ephemeral artform, one meant to happen only in the moment and then fade away. As such, building the world of the theatrical space, whether physical or digital, is similar to shooting at a moving target. While one angle of approach may be perfect for a moment, being ready and flexible enough to pivot, whether to reimagine due to limitation or to adjust an entire project due to calamity, like the shift from in person to online streaming. This paper investigates the joy of research, the growing pains of development, and then the labor of reshaping and rebuilding a projection design when the Covid-19 pandemic forced a rethinking of live performance. Chapter 1 explores the excitement that comes from diving into the exploration of first concepts of design, with the beginner’s mind engaged. Chapter 2 is a discussion of virtual filmmaking and how the game building software Unreal Engine is being utilized in the film world, as well as how these relate to theatre. Chapter 3 takes us on the ride of The Pivot as a pandemic forces changes in scripts and platforms. Chapter 4 deals with the balance of choices in design elements as they relate to projection in a live space versus the Zoom live stream, specifically, motion/stillness and geography building in a 2D platform. Finally, by maintaining a level of flexibility in design and approach, the pivot allows for new outcomes and unexpected discoveries

Is predictability salient? A study of attentional capture by auditory patterns.

In this series of behavioural and electroencephalography (EEG) experiments, we investigate the extent to which repeating patterns of sounds capture attention. Work in the visual domain has revealed attentional capture by statistically predictable stimuli, consistent with predictive coding accounts which suggest that attention is drawn to sensory regularities. Here, stimuli comprised rapid sequences of tone pips, arranged in regular (REG) or random (RAND) patterns. EEG data demonstrate that the brain rapidly recognizes predictable patterns manifested as a rapid increase in responses to REG relative to RAND sequences. This increase is reminiscent of the increase in gain on neural responses to attended stimuli often seen in the neuroimaging literature, and thus consistent with the hypothesis that predictable sequences draw attention. To study potential attentional capture by auditory regularities, we used REG and RAND sequences in two different behavioural tasks designed to reveal effects of attentional capture by regularity. Overall, the pattern of results suggests that regularity does not capture attention.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'

Fifth-grade students’ digital retellings and the Common Core: Modal use and design intentionality

Multimodal composing is part of the Common Core vision of the twenty-first-century student. Two descriptive studies were conducted of fifth-grade students’ digital folktale retellings. Study 1 analyzed 83 retellings in relation to the types and frequencies of modal use, such as image, sound, movement, and written text, as well as their retelling accuracy. Students composed within a scaffolded digital composing environment which comprised the PowerPoint authoring/presentation tool and a researcher-developed story frame. All students’ retellings included writing and visual design, 80% included animation, and 70% included sound. Retelling accuracy scores averaged 54%. Study 2 was conducted with a new group of 14 fifth-grade students who had previous digital retelling experience. The retellings included the same types of modal use, but at a higher level of frequency. In their retrospective design interviews, students expressed design intentionality and a metamodal awareness of how modes work together to create an appealing story

Image Morphing

Morphing is also used in the gaming industry to add engaging animation to video games and computer games. However, morphing techniques are not limited only to entertainment purposes. Morphing is a powerful tool that can enhance many multimedia projects such as presentations, education, electronic book illustrations, and computer-based training

Representation of contralateral visual space in the human hippocampus

The initial encoding of visual information primarily from the contralateral visual field is a fundamental organizing principle of the primate visual system. Recently, the presence of such retinotopic sensitivity has been shown to extend well beyond early visual cortex to regions not historically considered retinotopically sensitive. In particular, human scene-selective regions in parahippocampal and medial parietal cortex exhibit prominent biases for the contralateral visual field. Here we used fMRI to test the hypothesis that the human hippocampus, which is thought to be anatomically connected with these scene-selective regions, would also exhibit a biased representation of contralateral visual space. First, population receptive field mapping with scene stimuli revealed strong biases for the contralateral visual field in bilateral hippocampus. Second, the distribution of retinotopic sensitivity suggested a more prominent representation in anterior medial portions of the hippocampus. Finally, the contralateral bias was confirmed in independent data taken from the Human Connectome Project initiative. The presence of contralateral biases in the hippocampus - a structure considered by many as the apex of the visual hierarchy - highlights the truly pervasive influence of retinotopy. Moreover, this finding has important implications for understanding how this information relates to the allocentric global spatial representations known to be encoded therein.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:Retinotopic encoding of visual information is an organizing principle of visual cortex. Recent work demonstrates this sensitivity in structures far beyond early visual cortex, including those anatomically connected to the hippocampus. Here, using population receptive field modelling in two independent sets of data we demonstrate a consistent bias for the contralateral visual field in bilateral hippocampus. Such a bias highlights the truly pervasive influence of retinotopy, with important implications for understanding how the presence of retinotopy relates to more allocentric spatial representations

Direct comparison of contralateral bias and face/scene selectivity in human occipitotemporal cortex

Human visual cortex is organised broadly according to two major principles: retinotopy (the spatial mapping of the retina in cortex) and category-selectivity (preferential responses to specific categories of stimuli). Historically, these principles were considered anatomically separate, with retinotopy restricted to the occipital cortex and category-selectivity emerging in the lateral-occipital and ventral-temporal cortex. However, recent studies show that category-selective regions exhibit systematic retinotopic biases, for example exhibiting stronger activation for stimuli presented in the contra- compared to the ipsilateral visual field. It is unclear, however, whether responses within category-selective regions are more strongly driven by retinotopic location or by category preference, and if there are systematic differences between category-selective regions in the relative strengths of these preferences. Here, we directly compare contralateral and category preferences by measuring fMRI responses to scene and face stimuli presented in the left or right visual field and computing two bias indices: a contralateral bias (response to the contralateral minus ipsilateral visual field) and a face/scene bias (preferred response to scenes compared to faces, or vice versa). We compare these biases within and between scene- and face-selective regions and across the lateral and ventral surfaces of the visual cortex more broadly. We find an interaction between surface and bias: lateral surface regions show a stronger contralateral than face/scene bias, whilst ventral surface regions show the opposite. These effects are robust across and within subjects, and appear to reflect large-scale, smoothly varying gradients. Together, these findings support distinct functional roles for the lateral and ventral visual cortex in terms of the relative importance of the spatial location of stimuli during visual information processing. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00429-021-02411-8

Direct comparison of contralateral bias and face/scene selectivity in human occipitotemporal cortex

Human visual cortex is organised broadly according to two major principles: retinotopy (the spatial mapping of the retina in cortex) and category-selectivity (preferential responses to specific categories of stimuli). Historically, these principles were considered anatomically separate, with retinotopy restricted to the occipital cortex and category-selectivity emerging in the lateral-occipital and ventral-temporal cortex. However, recent studies show that category-selective regions exhibit systematic retinotopic biases, for example exhibiting stronger activation for stimuli presented in the contra- compared to the ipsilateral visual field. It is unclear, however, whether responses within category-selective regions are more strongly driven by retinotopic location or by category preference, and if there are systematic differences between category-selective regions in the relative strengths of these preferences. Here, we directly compare contralateral and category preferences by measuring fMRI responses to scene and face stimuli presented in the left or right visual field and computing two bias indices: a contralateral bias (response to the contralateral minus ipsilateral visual field) and a face/scene bias (preferred response to scenes compared to faces, or vice versa). We compare these biases within and between scene- and face-selective regions and across the lateral and ventral surfaces of the visual cortex more broadly. We find an interaction between surface and bias: lateral surface regions show a stronger contralateral than face/scene bias, whilst ventral surface regions show the opposite. These effects are robust across and within subjects, and appear to reflect large-scale, smoothly varying gradients. Together, these findings support distinct functional roles for the lateral and ventral visual cortex in terms of the relative importance of the spatial location of stimuli during visual information processing. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00429-021-02411-8