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Archives of ctltheory for Jun15-98 |
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| Mon, 15 Jun 1998 | Vol. 1.6 |
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Date: 15 Jun 1998 14:03:06 -0400
From: nab@mail.hh.provi.de (Nicolas Anatol Baginsky)
Subject: experiment II
it finally happened. we managed to conduct the second experiment. last
friday, it was so cold and rainy that while first peeping out the door that
morning, i had the feeling no single test- or pressperson would show up. i
was wrong - right on time the first (and only) journalist arrived. during
that friday and also saturday afternoon we had four very different persons
"on the couch". this time, during the experiment, the probands did not sit
on a chair but lie on a comfortable chaiselonge. their skin conductivity
and muscle activity of their middle finger on the unpreferred hand (left
hand for right handed and vice versa) was recorded. also brain activity was
analysed using Fast Fourrier Transformation. two channel of that spectrum
analysis (alpha waves and eye activity) were used to control my little
camera robot. the camera image was presented to the test person through
I-glasses. this live image was also analysed through a very simple device:
four photoresistors were taped to the screen of a video monitor. these
analogue signals were digitised by a basic stamp that was connected through
a serial link to a PC. all these input channels (thirteen altogether) were
connected to a Kohonen network ( i named it HARRIET) that was trained twice
with (almost) every person.
in the first session the test person was not given any information. they the camera robot was mounted in another room in between two shelves that the two other male participants also displayed rising skin conductivity. all participants commented or even complained about the images in some way nab, linz june 15. 1998 nab@provi.de currently at -------- ----------------------
were only asked to tell us their hypotheses on how the system works. in the
second course we explained to them how the connection between their brain
and the robot works. a three-dimensional image generated by the kohonen
network was recorded for every training step and later assembled into
little quicktime movies. we also recorded the entire data stream plus the
three channel HARRIET output in midi format and we took screen shots of the
skin resistance and muscle-activity curves. see
were filled with all kinds of objects. in some positions the camera got
very close to the shelves and the partly nervous camera movements created
slightly stressful but also boring visual sensations. the second test
person complained about a feeling of "see-sickness" and we had to end his
session after only twelve minutes. his skin conductivity rose in an
exponential curve but immediately cooled down when we started talking with
him about his experience. he had also participated in our first experiment
and he probably suffered from the decreased possibilities to directly
control the camera. he also showed extremely strong muscle activity in his
"A"-session when he was not informed about the control mechanism.
only the female test person produced chaotic ups and downs for that
parameter, but this might be a result of her hyperactive nature and her
personal circumstances. she is an artist and was preparing an opening for
the next day. only the last visitor did not try to control the movements of
the robot with force. he simply relaxed and by doing so allowed his brain
and the robot to float in all directions. he is also an artist and a very
"cool" person in general.
(too boring, too hectic, not motivating enough ...). examples of their
hypotheses and comments can also be found on the documentation site.
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