Examining Own-Race Bias: A Cooperation and Memory Study Using Diverse Emojis

Other-race-effect or own-race bias is a well-documented phenomenon in memory. Findings suggest that humans are better at recognizing and remembering faces of their own race than other races. Previous research suggests that these results are due to a lack of interracial contact or exposure to other racial groups. Evidence from previous studies has demonstrated that individuals process own-race faces differently than other-race faces, paying more attention to more salient features that become better encoded. While there is empirical support for both hypotheses, it has yet to be studied if the other-race effect for memory extends to representational human faces, for instance, emojis. Emojis are digital pictures used for electronic communication of emotions, expressions, and meaning. The current study examined if the other-race effect for recognition memory extended to people emojis. Black (n = 47) and White (n = 47) participants viewed both light/medium-light skin tone and dark/medium-dark skin tone emojis. Participants completed a cooperation task and a memory computer task. Results indicated that there was no difference in memory or cooperation for same-race or other-race faces. However, Black participants that held their racial identity in more positive regard were marginally more likely to remember dark and medium-dark emoji faces. Additionally, Black participants that were more satisfied with their skin color were significantly more likely to remember dark and medium-dark emoji faces. Overall, participants cooperated significantly more with emoji faces than human faces. White participants higher in empathy were marginally more likely to cooperate with Black and dark/medium-dark partners than those lower in empathy. These results suggest that individual differences can moderate own-race bias even for emoji faces

Digital Image Access & Retrieval

The 33th Annual Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March of 1996, addressed the theme of "Digital Image Access & Retrieval." The papers from this conference cover a wide range of topics concerning digital imaging technology for visual resource collections. Papers covered three general areas: (1) systems, planning, and implementation; (2) automatic and semi-automatic indexing; and (3) preservation with the bulk of the conference focusing on indexing and retrieval.published or submitted for publicatio

Biometric Systems

Because of the accelerating progress in biometrics research and the latest nation-state threats to security, this book's publication is not only timely but also much needed. This volume contains seventeen peer-reviewed chapters reporting the state of the art in biometrics research: security issues, signature verification, fingerprint identification, wrist vascular biometrics, ear detection, face detection and identification (including a new survey of face recognition), person re-identification, electrocardiogram (ECT) recognition, and several multi-modal systems. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students, engineers, and researchers interested in understanding and investigating this important field of study

A Multispectral Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Study of Human Skin for Improved Dismount Detection

In 2008, the Sensors Exploitation Research Group at the Air Force Institute of Technology began using spectral properties of skin for the detection and classification of humans. Since then a multispectral skin detection system was developed to exploit the optical properties of human skin at wavelengths in the visible and near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. A rules-based detector, analyzing an image spectrally, currently bases its skin pixel selection criteria on a diffuse skin reflectance model. However, when observing skin in direct view of the sun, a glint of light off skin is common and indicates specularity. The areas of skin with a high degree of specular reflectance, results in misdetections. We show that skin is characterized by diffuse and specular reflectance, with both components dependent on the scene configuration. While we cannot always rely on the person to directly face the camera or have constant illumination conditions, it is important to have flexibility with the rules-based detector as the scene changes. Our research better characterizes skin reflectance as a function of source and detector angular locations to improve on the rules-based detector

Episodic memory for emotional information: Event-related potential and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

The neural correlates of emotional episodic memory are investigated in a series of neuroimaging experiments (ERP, fMRI) through the comparison of memory effects elicited during retrieval of emotional relative to neutral information. In the first two ERP studies, it is revealed that emotionally-valenced words influence recognition memory primarily by virtue of their high levels of 'semantic-cohesiveness'. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the arrangement of emotional and neutral retrieval cues at test (blocked versus intermixed) influences processing carried out upon retrieved emotional episodic information. The findings across the third and fourth ERP studies indicate that incidental retrieval of emotional context (encoding environment) gives rise to greater activity in neural systems supporting episodic retrieval than does retrieval of non-emotional context. When context retrieval is intentional, by contrast, emotional and non-emotional episodic memory are associated with equivalent levels of engagement. The findings of the fourth ERP study are consistent with the existence of additional neural circuitry that is activated selectively by emotionally toned episodic information. In a final event-related fMRI study it is revealed that the retrieval of emotionally negative relative to emotionally neutral context elicits enhanced activity in brain regions including prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex. Recognition of words from positive relative to neutral contexts is associated with increased activity in prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex, and in the left anterior temporal lobe. The fMRI findings provide further support for the proposal that the incidental retrieval of emotional information enhances activity in networks supporting episodic retrieval of neutral information. In addition, the fMRI findings suggest that regions known to be activated when emotional information is encountered in the environment are also active when emotional information is retrieved from memory. Whilst the findings are noteworthy in their own right, they also have implications for future studies of emotional memory. It is proposed that the employment of paradigms which involve the retrieval of emotional context through presentation of non-emotional retrieval cues may offer advantages over paradigms wherein the retrieval cues themselves are emotional

Multispectral iris recognition analysis: Techniques and evaluation

This thesis explores the benefits of using multispectral iris information acquired using a narrow-band multispectral imaging system. Commercial iris recognition systems typically sense the iridal reflection pertaining to the near-infrared (IR) range of the electromagnetic spectrum. While near-infrared imaging does give a very reasonable image of the iris texture, it only exploits a narrow band of spectral information. By incorporating other wavelength ranges (infrared, red, green, blue) in iris recognition systems, the reflectance and absorbance properties of the iris tissue can be exploited to enhance recognition performance. Furthermore, the impact of eye color on iris matching performance can be determined. In this work, a multispectral iris image acquisition system was assembled in order to procure data from human subjects. Multispectral images pertaining to 70 different eyes (35 subjects) were acquired using this setup. Three different iris localization algorithms were developed in order to isolate the iris information from the acquired images. While the first technique relied on the evidence presented by a single spectral channel (viz., near-infrared), the other two techniques exploited the information represented in multiple channels. Experimental results confirm the benefits of utilizing multiple channel information for iris segmentation. Next, an image enhancement technique using the CIE L*a*b* histogram equalization method was designed to improve the quality of the multispectral images. Further, a novel encoding method based on normalized pixel intensities was developed to represent the segmented iris images. The proposed encoding algorithm, when used in conjunction with the traditional texture-based scheme, was observed to result in very good matching performance. The work also explored the matching interoperability of iris images across multiple channels. This thesis clearly asserts the benefits of multispectral iris processing, and provides a foundation for further research in this topic

Emotional Memory: Examining Differences in Retrieval Methods

Emotional information is generally remembered better than non-emotional information, especially when the emotional information is highly arousing. Priority Binding Theory has grown out of several years worth of research on memory and emotion. The theory proposes that in mixed lists comprised of negative and arousing words and neutral words, negative and arousing words will take priority during mental processing resulting in stronger encoding for the emotional words relative to neutral words with no such effect predicted for pure lists. Our lab made several attempts to extend the theory to picture stimuli, but were unsuccessful. However, the predictions of Priority Binding Theory were tested using recall, while studies in our lab have used recognition as a retrieval method. Research suggests that retrieval processes may be distinct and affected differently by various factors. Therefore, the current study manipulated retrieval methods, recognition and recall, to determine if the predictions of Priority Binding Theory were retrieval dependent. Results showed an overall increase in accuracy for negative images versus neutral images. The degree of accuracy for negative versus neutral images differed by retrieval method, with the difference between accuracy for negative versus neutral information greater in recall formats. In terms of retrieval method, recognition accuracy showed ceiling effects and no effect of list type was observed, but in recall significant differences were observed between negative and neutral stimuli in mixed lists and no significant differences observed between pure negative and pure neutral lists. The present results supports the predictions of Priority Binding Theory

Sonified freaks and sounding prostheses: sonic representation of bodies in performance art

This study is concerned with the role of sound in the presentation and representation of bodies in performance art that incorporates digital technologies. It consists of a written thesis accompanied by a portfolio with documentation of original artwork. Since the 1960s, performance artists have explored the use of sensor technologies to register signals generated by the body and synthesize or control sound. However, both practical and theoretical approaches to biosignal sonification in this field have almost entirely focused on musical (formalist) perspectives, technological innovation, or heightening the performer’s and spectator’s awareness of their body’s physiology. Little attention has been paid to the usually conspicuous interaction between body and technological equipment and the role of the generated sound in the context of cultural critical debates regarding the performing body. The present study responds to this observation in two ways: Firstly, the written part of the study examines existing biosignal performance practices. It seeks to demonstrate that artists’ decisions on the design of sensor technology and sound synthesis or manipulation methods are often complicit in the representation of normative body types and behaviour. Drawing from a concept of the sonified body as a transgressive or ‘freak’ body, three critical perspectives on biosignal sonification in digital performance are proposed: A reading of body sonification methods from a gender-critical perspective, an inquiry in the context of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concepts of the grotesque and the classical body, and a conceptualization of the sonified body as a posthuman prosthetisized body. This part of the study serves as a framework for its second objective: the development of practical performance strategies to address and challenge cultural conventions concerning ‘the’ body’s form and role in society. This aspect of the thesis is developed in conjunction with, and further explored in, the artwork documented in the portfolio. The practical part of the study consists of three digital performance works. ELECTRODE (2011) involves an anal electrode that registers the activity of my sphincter muscle and uses this data to synthesize sound. For this work, I modified a commercially available muscle tension sensor device designed for people with faecal incontinence problems. Feedback (2010) encompasses components of a commercially available fetal Doppler sensor intended to listen to the heartbeat of unborn babies. SUIT (2009-2010) encompasses several performances that feature a PVC overall equipped with a loudspeaker, sensor interface and Doppler and humidity sensors