Temporal cognition: Connecting subjective time to perception, attention, and memory.

Time is a universal psychological dimension, but time perception has often been studied and discussed in relative isolation. Increasingly, researchers are searching for unifying principles and integrated models that link time perception to other domains. In this review, we survey the links between temporal cognition and other psychological processes. Specifically, we describe how subjective duration is affected by nontemporal stimulus properties (perception), the allocation of processing resources (attention), and past experience with the stimulus (memory). We show that many of these connections instantiate a "processing principle," according to which perceived time is positively related to perceptual vividity and the ease of extracting information from the stimulus. This empirical generalization generates testable predictions and provides a starting-point for integrated theoretical frameworks. By outlining some of the links between temporal cognition and other domains, and by providing a unifying principle for understanding these effects, we hope to encourage time-perception researchers to situate their work within broader theoretical frameworks, and that researchers from other fields will be inspired to apply their insights, techniques, and theorizing to improve our understanding of the representation and judgment of time. (PsycINFO Database Recor

Computer-supported movement guidance: investigating visual/visuotactile guidance and informing the design of vibrotactile body-worn interfaces

This dissertation explores the use of interactive systems to support movement guidance, with applications in various fields such as sports, dance, physiotherapy, and immersive sketching. The research focuses on visual, haptic, and visuohaptic approaches and aims to overcome the limitations of traditional guidance methods, such as dependence on an expert and high costs for the novice. The main contributions of the thesis are (1) an evaluation of the suitability of various types of displays and visualizations of the human body for posture guidance, (2) an investigation into the influence of different viewpoints/perspectives, the addition of haptic feedback, and various movement properties on movement guidance in virtual environments, (3) an investigation into the effectiveness of visuotactile guidance for hand movements in a virtual environment, (4) two in-depth studies of haptic perception on the body to inform the design of wearable and handheld interfaces that leverage tactile output technologies, and (5) an investigation into new interaction techniques for tactile guidance of arm movements. The results of this research advance the state of the art in the field, provide design and implementation insights, and pave the way for new investigations in computer-supported movement guidance

Sensory and cognitive factors in multi-digit touch, and its integration with vision

Every tactile sensation – an itch, a kiss, a hug, a pen gripped between fingers, a soft fabric brushing against the skin – is experienced in relation to the body. Normally, they occur somewhere on the body’s surface – they have spatiality. This sense of spatiality is what allows us to perceive a partner’s caress in terms of its changing location on the skin, its movement direction, speed, and extent. How this spatiality arises and how it is experienced is a thriving research topic, compelled by growing interest in the nature of tactile experiences from product design to brain-machine interfaces. The present thesis adds to this flourishing area of research by examining the unified spatial quality of touch. How does distinct spatial information converge from separate areas of the body surface to give rise to our normal unified experience of touch? After explaining the importance of this question in Chapter 1, a novel paradigm to tackle this problem will be presented, whereby participants are asked to estimate the average direction of two stimuli that are simultaneously moved across two different fingerpads. This paradigm is a laboratory analogue of the more ecological task of representing the overall movement of an object held between multiple fingers. An EEG study in Chapter 2 will reveal a brain mechanism that could facilitate such aggregated perception. Next, by characterising participants’ performance not just in terms of error rates, but by considering perceptual sensitivity, bias, precision, and signal weighting, a series of psychophysical experiments will show that this aggregation ability differs for within- and between-hand perception (Chapter 3), is independent from somatotopically-defined circuitry (Chapter 4) and arises after proprioceptive input about hand posture is accounted for (Chapter 5). Finally, inspired by the demand for integrated tactile and visual experience in virtual reality and the potential of tactile interface to aid navigation, Chapter 6 will examine the contribution of tactile spatiality on visual spatial experience. Ultimately, the present thesis will reveal sensory factors that limit precise representation of concurrently occurring dynamic tactile events. It will point to cognitive strategies the brain may employ to overcome those limitations to tactually perceive coherent objects. As such, this thesis advances somatosensory research beyond merely examining the selectivity to and discrimination between experienced tactile inputs, to considering the unified experience of touch despite distinct stimulus elements. The findings also have practical implications for the design of functional tactile interfaces

Proceedings of the 3rd International Mobile Brain/Body Imaging Conference : Berlin, July 12th to July 14th 2018

The 3rd International Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) conference in Berlin 2018 brought together researchers from various disciplines interested in understanding the human brain in its natural environment and during active behavior. MoBI is a new imaging modality, employing mobile brain imaging methods like the electroencephalogram (EEG) or near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) synchronized to motion capture and other data streams to investigate brain activity while participants actively move in and interact with their environment. Mobile Brain / Body Imaging allows to investigate brain dynamics accompanying more natural cognitive and affective processes as it allows the human to interact with the environment without restriction regarding physical movement. Overcoming the movement restrictions of established imaging modalities like functional magnetic resonance tomography (MRI), MoBI can provide new insights into the human brain function in mobile participants. This imaging approach will lead to new insights into the brain functions underlying active behavior and the impact of behavior on brain dynamics and vice versa, it can be used for the development of more robust human-machine interfaces as well as state assessment in mobile humans.DFG, GR2627/10-1, 3rd International MoBI Conference 201

Extending the Extended Mind : From Cognition to Consciousness

Where does conscious experience stop and the rest of the world begin? Is the material basis of consciousness confined to the brain, or can it be extended to include other parts of the body and environmental elements? This study proposes an extended account: when all the requirements are fulfilled, an external tool may become part of the realising basis for certain experiential processes. Andy Clark and David Chalmers argued famously that the material basis of cognitive states sometimes extends out of the barriers of skin and skull to external objects such as notebooks and other everyday tools. However, they draw the line there: only cognition, but not consciousness can have an extended base. The central argument of this study is that their constraint is not legitimate. If one is accepted, the other one follows. The first chapter lays an overview of the theoretical background of externalism and the 4E-theories in present-day philosophy of mind and cognitive sciences. It also examines the central concepts, accounts and methodological questions that will be used and further developed in later chapters. The second chapter presents three arguments for the position defended in this thesis, namely the hypothesis of extended conscious mind. The third chapter analyses the ongoing debate in the interface of philosophy of mind and philosophy of science about the causal–constitution distinction, and argues that rather than in mechanist terms, the causal–constitution distinction should be interpreted in diachronic terms when dealing with mental phenomena. When depicted that way, the extension relation in the hypothesis of extended conscious mind counts as constitutive. The fourth chapter distinguishes between several different levels of extension, from mere short-term extension to more robust functional incorporation, where the external tool has become part of the transparent bodily point of view of the subject. Based on the notion of functional incorporation, a set of demarcation criteria for the hypothesis of extended conscious mind will be developed. The chapter closes by discussing sensory substitution as a concrete example of functional incorporation. Finally, the fifth chapter introduces the most influential counter-arguments that have been set forth against the hypothesis of extended conscious mind. The critiques will be examined and answered.Väitöstutkimus esittää, että mielen ja tietoisen kokemuksen rajat laajentuvat pään ja ruumiin ulkopuolelle, esimerkiksi teknologisiin apuvälineisiin. Tutkimus kyseenalaistaa mielenfilosofiassa perinteisesti vallassa olleen näkemyksen, jonka mukaan mielen toiminnot voitaisiin selittää pelkän aivotoiminnan pohjalta – sen sijaan mielen toiminnot syntyvät aivojen, ruumiin ja ympäristön vuorovaikutuksessa. Andy Clark ja David Chalmers esittivät kuuluisassa artikkelissaan, että jokapäiväiset apuvälineet voivat olla kognitiivisten prosessien muodostamisessa mukana biologisen ruumiin ohella. Clark ja Chalmers kuitenkin rajoittivat laajentumisen tähän: heidän mukaansa pelkästään kognitiivisilla prosesseilla voi olla laajentunut perusta, mutta tietoinen kokemus rajoittuu pään sisään. Tämän tutkimuksen uusi avaus ja ydinargumentti on, että tällaista rajanvetoa ei ole mahdollista tehdä johdonmukaisesti. Jos hyväksymme kognitiivisten tilojen laajentumisen, tietoinen kokemus seuraa mukana. Biologisten toimintojen ohella esimerkiksi muistikirja tai älypuhelin voi toimia muistoja ja uskomuksia osaltaan toteuttavana välineenä, ja sokeankeppi tai tekoraaja osana tuntoaistimuksen toteuttavaa materiaalista pohjaa. Jotta laajentuminen voi tapahtua, ulkoisen välineen tulee täyttää tietyt ehdot, sen täytyy muun muassa tulla osaksi funktionaalista ruumiillista identiteettiä. Ulkoisiin apuvälineisiin laajentuminen on mahdollista aivojen ja ruumiin rakenteellisen muovautuvuuden ansiosta: ruumiillistetun osan ei tarvitse olla biologinen, mutta sen täytyy tulla ”läpinäkyväksi” osaksi subjektin näkökulmaa. Käsitteellisen analyysin lisäksi työssä käsitellään useita empiirisiä tutkimustapauksia (kuten aistikorvaavuuslaite-teknologia ja empiirinen unitutkimus). Mielen ja tietoisen kokemuksen laajentumisella on kauaskantoinen vaikutus, joka näkyy filosofian ohella useilla muillakin aloilla. Tutkimus auttaa vastaamaan erittäin ajankohtaisiin kysymyksiin, kuten millainen status käyttämillemme jokapäiväisille teknologisille laitteille tulisi antaa: tulisiko niitä pitää vain fyysisinä esineinä vai kognitiivisten prosessien jatkeena? Yksi esiin nouseva käytännönläheinen kysymys jatkotutkimukselle on kuinka ympäristön muokkaaminen (esim. hoitolaitoksissa tehtävät ratkaisut) vaikuttaa mieleen – ja tästä seuraa myös monenlaisia eettisiä kysymyksiä

Is the perceived present a predictive model of the objective present?

Processing latencies for coherent, high level percepts in vision are at least 100 ms and possibly as much as 500 ms. Processing latencies are less in other modalities, but still significant. This seems to imply that perception lags behind reality by an amount equal to the processing latency. It has been proposed that the brain can compensate for perceptual processing latencies by using the most recent available information to extrapolate forward, thereby constructing a model of what the world beyond the senses is like now. The present paper reviews several lines of evidence relating to this hypothesis, including the flash-lag effect, motion-induced position shifts, representational momentum, static visual illusions, and motion extrapolation at the retina. There are alternative explanations for most of the results but there are some findings for which no competing explanation has yet been proposed. Collectively, the evidence for extrapolation to the present is suggestive but not yet conclusive. An alternative account of compensation for processing latencies, based on the hypothesis of rapid emergence of percepts, is proposed

A Topology of Shared Control Systems—Finding Common Ground in Diversity

Shared control is an increasingly popular approach to facilitate control and communication between humans and intelligent machines. However, there is little consensus in guidelines for design and evaluation of shared control, or even in a definition of what constitutes shared control. This lack of consensus complicates cross fertilization of shared control research between different application domains. This paper provides a definition for shared control in context with previous definitions, and a set of general axioms for design and evaluation of shared control solutions. The utility of the definition and axioms are demonstrated by applying them to four application domains: automotive, robot-assisted surgery, brain–machine interfaces, and learning. Literature is discussed for each of these four domains in light of the proposed definition and axioms. Finally, to facilitate design choices for other applications, we propose a hierarchical framework for shared control that links the shared control literature with traded control, co-operative control, and other human–automation interaction methods. Future work should reveal the generalizability and utility of the proposed shared control framework in designing useful, safe, and comfortable interaction between humans and intelligent machines