2,740 research outputs found
Where creativity comes from: the social spaces of embodied minds
This paper explores creative design, social interaction and perception. It proposes that creativity at a social level is not a result of many individuals trying to be creative at a personal level, but occurs naturally in the social interaction between comparatively simple minds embodied in a complex world. Particle swarm algorithms can model group interaction in shared spaces, but design space is not necessarily one pre-defined space of set parameters on which everyone can agree, as individual minds are very different. A computational model is proposed that allows a similar swarm to occur between spaces of different description and even dimensionality. This paper explores creative design, social interaction and perception. It proposes that creativity at a social level is not a result of many individuals trying to be creative at a personal level, but occurs naturally in the social interaction between comparatively simple minds embodied in a complex world. Particle swarm algorithms can model group interaction in shared spaces, but design space is not necessarily one pre-defined space of set parameters on which everyone can agree, as individual minds are very different. A computational model is proposed that allows a similar swarm to occur between spaces of different description and even dimensionality
Environmentally Influenced Duplication Patterns Followed by Functional Shifts Fueling the Evolution of Metazoan Sensory Systems
In this thesis, some of the methods by which animals use their sensory systems to interact with their environment have been extensively studied. How gene duplications have played an important role in sensory evolution by duplication followed by functional shifts resulting in neofunctionalisation has been analysed. This extensive neofunctionalisation allows for an expansion in the number of environmental signals the animal can detect. In the following chapters, some of the ways gene duplication has effected sensory perception have been shown in detail, in particular by the expansion and specialisation of sensory receptor repertoires. Chapter two describes an extensive study performed on the duplication and neofunctionalisation of opsins in animals as a result of environmental signals, leading to the evolution of colour vision. This study of vision is expanded upon in chapter three by looking at how the duplication of an entire visual pathway has led to the emergence of a new cell type and visual function in the rod and cone cells of vertebrates. Finally, in chapter four, large-scale analyses were performed of some massively expanded gene families used for olfactory and gustatory discrimination, showing the effects of extreme cases of gene duplication on animal sensory perception
Features for matching people in different views
There have been significant advances in the computer vision field during the last decade.
During this period, many methods have been developed that have been successful in solving
challenging problems including Face Detection, Object Recognition and 3D Scene Reconstruction.
The solutions developed by computer vision researchers have been widely
adopted and used in many real-life applications such as those faced in the medical and
security industry. Among the different branches of computer vision, Object Recognition
has been an area that has advanced rapidly in recent years. The successful introduction of
approaches such as feature extraction and description has been an important factor in the
growth of this area. In recent years, researchers have attempted to use these approaches
and apply them to other problems such as Content Based Image Retrieval and Tracking.
In this work, we present a novel system that finds correspondences between people seen in
different images. Unlike other approaches that rely on a video stream to track the movement
of people between images, here we present a feature-based approach where we locate a
target’s new location in an image, based only on its visual appearance.
Our proposed system comprises three steps. In the first step, a set of features is extracted
from the target’s appearance. A novel algorithm is developed that allows extraction of features
from a target that is particularly suitable to the modelling task. In the second step,
each feature is characterised using a combined colour and texture descriptor. Inclusion
of information relating to both colour and texture of a feature add to the descriptor’s distinctiveness.
Finally, the target’s appearance and pose is modelled as a collection of such
features and descriptors. This collection is then used as a template that allows us to search
for a similar combination of features in other images that correspond to the target’s new
location.
We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our system in locating a target’s new position in
an image, despite differences in viewpoint, scale or elapsed time between the images. The
characterisation of a target as a collection of features also allows our system to robustly
deal with the partial occlusion of the target
An Experimental Investigation Into the Design and Perception of Line Symbol Series on Route Planning Maps
Recent estimates by the Department of Transport have suggested that up t
Examining the Relationship between Autobiographical Episodic Memory and Theory of Mind in Developmental Amnesia and with fMRI: The Role of Personal Familiarity
The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if, and under what conditions, autobiographical memory (AM) supported by the hippocampus benefits theory of mind (ToM). To this end, I attempted to address two main questions: (a) Are AM difficulties caused by early-onset hippocampal damage associated with impaired performance on standard measures of ToM (Experiment 1)? (b) Is AM and the brain regions that support it involved to a greater extent in imagining the experiences of personally known others compared to unknown others (Experiments 2, 3, and 4)? In Experiment 1, ToM abilities were examined in H.C., a young woman with impaired AM development due to early hippocampal damage. H.C. performed at the same level as controls on a wide range of ToM tests. These findings suggest that normal AM development is not critical for the development or expression of ToM, at least as measured by standard tests. In Experiment 2, healthy individuals were scanned with fMRI to test whether different neural and cognitive mechanisms support imagining the experiences of personally known others (pToM) versus unknown others (ToM). There was greater neural overlap between AM and pToM compared to pToM and ToM. Furthermore, a direct comparison between pToM and ToM revealed that midline regions associated with AM predominated during pToM, whereas more lateral regions associated with semantic memory predominated during ToM. These findings suggest that there are multiple routes to ToM and the extent to which AM is recruited depends, at least in part, on whether the target person is personally known. Experiment 3 corroborated the neuroimaging results reported in Experiment 2 by showing that H.C. was impaired at producing detailed descriptions of events relating to her own past as well as events relating to personally known others. In contrast, she was intact at describing events relating to unknown others. Experiment 4 explored the neural basis of H.C.’s performance on AM, pToM, and ToM. fMRI analyses revealed that measures of percent signal change and functional connectivity were equivalent between H.C. and controls across all conditions. These finding suggest that BOLD fMRI cannot necessarily distinguish between preserved and impaired behavioural performance in developmental amnesia. Overall, these results contribute substantially to our current understanding of the functional and neural relationship between AM and ToM, and add to the literature suggesting that the hippocampus plays a broader role in cognition beyond that of recalling past events
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