Scandy AR 3D Scanning

Mobile 3D scanning company Scandy has released a new app for devices on Google's Tango mobile AR platform that gives users the advanced 3D scanning capabilities. With Scandy Pro, Tango users can scan objects large and small to create 3D meshes that can be exported for use in other 3D modeling software, such as Unity. Scandy Pro can also be used to view 3D models made with the app or from other sources.

Scandy Pro is available on the Google Play Store for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and the forthcoming Asus ZenPhone AR. Rather than leaning on the stock features built into the Tango platform, Scandy utlizes its own 3D scanning algorithms. When paired with Tango's tracking capabilities, Scandy's scanning technology can achieve higher-resolution scans than other Tango apps.

More information:

https://mobile-ar.reality.news/news/scandy-gives-tango-owners-taste-3d-scanning-0178450/

Terpsichore Summer School - Invited Talks

On the 4^th of September 2017, I gave two invited talks to the Terpsichore summer school which was held at the National Technical University of Athens, in Greece. The titles of my talks were: ‘Augmented Reality Interfaces’ and ‘Advanced Human-Computer Interaction’.

The aim of the Terpsichore project is to study, analyse, design, research, train, implement and validate an innovative framework for affordable digitization, modelling, archiving, e-preservation and presentation of ICH content related to folk dances, in a wide range of users.

More information:

http://terpsichore-project.eu/

Magnetic Brain Stimulation Improves Cognitive Abilities

Researchers at Aalto University and the University of Helsinki have succeeded for the first time ever in affecting metacognition of a tactile working memory task by combining neural pathway imaging and magnetic stimulation of the brain. Understanding brain function might help in the development of new treatments for neuropsychiatric illnesses in the future. By combining different brain research methods in a versatile manner the researchers showed for the first time that transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain targeting the prefrontal cortex can improve a test subject's ability to evaluate his or her performance in a tactile working memory task. The ability of human subjects to monitor and control their own cognitive processes is called metacognition. Metacognition is important for people and in many neuropsychiatric illnesses, it is possible to recognize that it has weakened. Transcranial magnetic stimulation refers to a method in which the nerve cells of the brain are activated from outside the skull with the help of a magnetic field. When used correctly the method is safe, and it is utilized in procedures such as pinpointing the location of the primary motor cortex or the speech area before brain surgery, and in the treatment of depression.

Taking part in the study as test subjects were 14 healthy volunteers. They first underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain as well as a diffusion MRI that is sensitive to the movement of water molecules in the brain. After the MRI, the neural pathway connections between the primary somatosensory cortex and the prefrontal cortex were determined for each individual. In the last part of the study the test subjects completed working memory tasks in which they were asked to keep in mind the characteristics of touch sensations from the fingertip and to evaluate whether or not the touch stimulation that was just given was similar to or different from the previous stimulus. During the test they were given magnetic pulses to prefrontal cortex areas that had a neural pathway connection to the part of the somatosensory cortex representing the index finger. The test subjects also evaluated how certain they were about their answers, on which basis calculations were made on how well a person's own evaluation corresponded to the actual performance level. Magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex improved the test subjects' evaluation of their performance, as they were able to assess more accurately if their answers had been correct or incorrect.

More information:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-magnetic-brain-awareness-subject-cognitive.html

Manipulating Mind with VR

Researchers from the University of Sussex’s Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, have been studying a fundamental scientific problem: the question of how consciousness happens. The standard experimental setup of cognitive experiments used to involve seating someone in a dark room, at a desk, and administering a computer-based test. These experiments, although valid, are not what scientists call ecologically valid.

 

Now, researchers use various different experimental tools, ranging from strobe lights to psychedelic drugs. In recent years, researchers have been experimenting with virtual reality. They are using VR to manipulate the way we experience being ourselves, the experience of embodiment and body ownership. The potential for VR in neuroscience is enormous and is just getting going. In five years, it’s going to be game changing.

More information:

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-secrets-of-consciouness

Scientists Reveal the Mechanism for Memory Retrieval

New research suggests that the subiculum, a part of the hippocampus that is rarely studied, is central to the memory retrieval process. This work also indicates that memory formation and memory recall follow different neural circuits. This work represents the first identification of this recall circuit in vertebrates, although scientists did identify a similar mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans, a roundworm. Scientists used laboratory mice that they had genetically engineered and conditioned to react to changes in light so that a reaction to green light would be tied to the subiculum neurons, which could then be inhibited. They then manipulated memory formation and recall using fear-conditioning events so the mice would make associations that were more or less pleasant in specific situations. Existing research shows that this kind of memory-encoding process stimulates CA1, a region of the hippocampus. CA1 interacts with the communication center common to the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex.

Although scientists previously believed that the same circuits which formed engrams recalled them, this team found that this isn’t the case. Instead, recall uses a pathway that deviates away from CA1, cutting through the subiculum to reach the entorhinal cortex instead. The team also found that the fear conditioning process which affected the subiculum inhibited only the ability to recall, but not the ability to form memories in the first place. The scientists hypothesize that it might be important to have these pathways distinct in order to enable us to update memories with fresher information and revise what we remember. They also believe that the presence of stress hormones, which are released during the recall of upsetting memories, might make two different pathways advantageous. Either way, the researchers point out the importance of the work in the understanding of the mechanisms of memory and speculate that, in the future, these results might be relevant to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.

More information:

https://futurism.com/researchers-have-discovered-the-mechanism-for-memory-retrieval/