Hi, I'm Whitney aspect the CEO of the MIT Alumni Association and, I hope you enjoy this digital production, created, for alumni and friends like you. Good. Morning. We. Have the slides please. Yes. I. In. Just. The, 12 years, since. Smartphones. Were originally. Introduced, we. Have become completely, inseparable. From. Our devices. Kids. These days get. A cell phone at the age of 12 or 13, and forever. After basically. They have that cell phone with them the younger generation, especially day and night, consulting. That device, hundreds. Of times a day and. 50%, of the population, also at night. By. The end of this year we will have phones. In the hands of a third of the world's, population. And. While. They give us access to all, the world's knowledge, and, information which, is of course absolutely. Wonderful. I would. Argue that they actually do not help as an even have a negative effects on some. Of the things that also, matter. A lot or maybe even matter more, for, people to be successful, in life, successful. At work etc. Things. Such as, mindfulness. And attention. Making. Better decisions and. Changing. Bad behaviors. Better. Memory, more, effective, learning. Creativity. And. Regulating. Our emotions. And. While. All of us can sort of use a little bit of help in, all of these issues, for. Some people, these types of issues can be debilitating. I'm, thinking, of for example ADHD. Addiction. Dementia. Anxiety. Etc, can really hamper. Our ability to. Be successful, and to lead fulfilling lives. So. For, a while, now, I've been, on a mission with, my research group at the media laboratory, to. Develop a new category, of, wearable. And portable, digital. Technologies, which. We call cognitive. Enhancement. Technologies. These. Are systems. That can seamlessly, enhance. Aspects. Of a person's, cognition, to. Help them either become. The person, that they would like to become, or maybe remain, the person that they once, were and still, want. To be and. What. I'll do today is give you a lot of examples, of, the types of, systems. That we have been prototyping. At the lab and the early, successes, that. We've accomplished. With them, the. Enabling, technologies. For. This, category, of new types of cognitive. Enhancement, systems, are first. Of all sensor. Technologies. We've, made tremendous progress, of, course in sensor. Technologies. And then also the interpretation, of, that sensor, data and. Devices. Can now have, a. Tremendous. Amount of knowledge about a person's. Internal. State, as. Well as their external. State there, are now cheap, and wearable. Versions, available of. Systems. Such as EEG. Devices. They come now in the form of glasses for example. That can read your brainwave, activity of, course. There are wearable, cameras.
That Today with, the, power of your smartphone, can recognize, what, is going on in your, surroundings. What, you are involved, in what you are about to do etc there. Are other technologies, that measure our emotions. Electrodermal. Activity heart. Rate heart rate variability, and, more so, this is the first enabler. That we make use of we give these, systems, that we built more. Data about, a person. That as their, internal, as, our external, state a, second. Enabler, our sensory. Augmentation. Technologies. Such as. For, example bone. Conduction. Speakers. We work a lot with both. Spin-off. Of course from MIT. New. Types of, auditory. Augmented. Reality systems. That can in, the moment give you some subtle. Advice. Or nudges, or maybe even, other. Types. Of inputs, that. Can help you with being, attentive, with memory. And more, we. Make use of visual. Augmented. Reality systems. Such as the magic. Lead glasses, in the picture, and we. Also developed some of our own augmentation. Technologies, like, we've worked for example, a lot on scent this place, that. Can actually alter, people's. Behavior. And affect people's, behavior. In the, moment and the. Last enabling. Technology, of course is machine. Learning and artificial, intelligence. That is used to make sense of all that data and decide how, to assist, a person in. The moment, so. Let me give you some examples, of how, we are trying to influence. And. Help people, with, things such as decision-making. Behavior. Change and more. First. Just. Recently, we, announced. And. Published, a paper on, a system, that, makes it possible for, a. Device, to pick up silent. Vocalization. And, thereby. Provides, a very. Private. And. Subtle. Interface. For a person, to interact, with devices. So. In the system. The. System actually uses some electrodes, that can pick up very, subtle, signals that, the person, produces. When, they silently. Voice, a, word. We. You. Lots of examples, lots of data to train a neural network to recognize, a silent. Vocalization. So, that you can basically talk. To, any app, on a cell, phone using. This, completely, silent. And, private. Method. It's. Not, green. Reading, and in a lot of the press that we received people, talk about it us MIT. Invented, a system that can read your thoughts you, actually have two fairly deliberately. Voice. Words. Internally. The way you do did, when you were kids, and we're just starting. To learn to read and they. Would tell you that you had to like not, say the words out loud but, still you would still be voicing, them. So. Right now we. Actually can, recognize. About. A hundreds, or, so words they are per. Application. The. Recognition. Rate actually is very high is about 92%, for. People in a sitting. Position. And. We. Are continuing, this work now, going towards recognizer, recognizing.
Phonemes, As opposed to full words to, make it easier for people to make use of. Basically. Any intelligence. That the machine can provide them in this completely, seamless. Private. Way, and. We're. Also by the way, starting. Experiments. This fall when a new crop of students, arrive with. ALS. Patients and. Other people, who have difficulty, with. Speech to, see whether this, type of device, could actually help, them. We're. Doing other work related to behavior, change as, well in. One. Of our projects, we, just have a you wear a camera and the, camera nose. Or, the system knows when, you are about to engage in a behavior that. Is something. That you would like to change for example, if. You have a bad habit of drinking sugary, drinks, you, can wear. The system, and as you, go about your later. Here, in the reception. You may be looking at a bottle, of coca-cola and, the system. The. System actually gives you some feedback, and, we're experimenting, with, multiple, forms. Just. A little. Unhappy. Face is one type. Of expert, thing, but we. Actually have a sense. Display, that we're using in a lot of our experiments, and we are verifying. Whether, the. Use of a bad son, like rotten, eggs every time you see a bottle of or stare at a bottle of coca-cola whether, that can actually help, you, develop. Some better. Behaviors. Or get rid of some bad behaviors. Attention. 10%. Of. Kids. And I'm sure many people at MIT as well suffer. From ADHD. And. Attention, problems, outside. In, the. Kresge hallway, there you can get, a demo from my. Postdoc, Natalia, Arcos Mina who, has been developing, a system that uses. EEG. To. Read, whether, a person, is attentive, and. Of course you would use it in conditions, where you want to be attentive and the. System, gives you subtle, biofeedback. In a, tangible. Way with vibration. Motors, in the scarf that she's wearing there the blue scarf. Every. Time your. Attention, falls, below, a certain level. So far. We have done tests. With. Adults, and we hope to begin tests, with children. In using, this device, as well and our, tests show in, the blue line is actually. The average average, attention. Level, we subjected. A bunch of. Adults. 20, adults to, lectures. About, computer, science and on purpose, made them a little bit boring at certain, times. And, so, the people in the blue line get. Feedback, every time their attention. Wanders. Get this haptic, feedback the. People in the green line. Gets. Random, feedback, haptic, feedback which, helps. A little bit as well it turns out so it's not based on what their attention, level is but makes them more attentive, and the, people in the red line that's. The average attention, level, of the people who just wore, the EGS, headset. But did not get any biofeedback. So. The results, are promising, so, far and. Seem. To indicate that, biofeedback. About, attention level is a promising. Alternative. Technology. For, helping, people with attention. Problems. Memory. We. Have been. Building systems, that help people with, augmentation. Of memory, some. Of these systems, may help you make better use, of your own memory, while, some of the other systems, that we've been building actually.
Help. Or, you. Can delegate, some of your memory problems. To, this. System, here never mind uses. Augmented. Reality. To. Basically, make. Use of a technique, that has, been around for. 2,000. Years and, it was really used a lot by ancient. Romans, and Greeks who. Remember. Very long speeches, and that is the technique, of the memory, palace it used, to be the case that when. They had to give very long speeches they, would just remember. Parts. Of their speech as being tied to, say different. Parts of their palace, or, it. Can be a path, that, you are very familiar with, and you, basically, mentally. Associate. The different parts of your speech, with. Landmarks. In. Your home, Palace, or along. A certain path and, then, it becomes a lot easier, to remember what it is that you're going to say, because. You can just mentally. Follow this path, and you remember, what, you're supposed to say at each moment so. We make it easier, with our device to use that technique. We. Took. The example, of. Teaching. A person, who, the Super, Bowl winners, were, in a, certain. Period, of time and, what. We did was we. Meant. That we, let, people walk, from the tea station, in Kendall Square to. Their office, in the media lab and at, every sort of landmark, and intersection. We would visualize. One, of the teams the subsequent. Teams. Basically, that won the Super. Bowl you. Don't, have to I can say like Cowboys, but I don't know what city that is because I know nothing, I. Know. Nothing about. About. Football but, I can, tell you what the first and winners, are of the Super Bowl because I used to system, and. So. Basically, when. You come out of the subway you, see a virtual. Image basically. Superimposed. On your reality, of a. Person, with boxes, which. Reminds. You that the Packers. Were, one the first Super Bowl in, 67. Then, you go up the stairs and you see another guy with boxes, the Packers then, you see the New York Jets when you come out of the tee there's a big jet, parked, right there outside of Kendall, Square, t. Station, of course this has all changed now, because I'm righties like building. In this whole area so you can't exactly but. You guys were, all here pre construction so, you recognize, this. Path. You. Go to the medical building, and you see a chief sitting, there you go through, the melt the, medical, building you see two guys fighting. The, coals, then. You come to the media lap and you see a horse, the. Cowboys, and so. On and it turns out that we only have, who make. People, experiences. Once, and, they, remember. Basically. I can still remember it two years later they. Remember, what, the subsequent. Winners, are of the Super Bowl because now in their minds, forever that, connection, has been made between. This. Path that, they know and. The. Super. Bowl winners, we. Actually, tested, this and published, a paper won best, paper award as well and, people. Who studied, on paper. The Super Bowl winners initially. Did equally, well but, already 24, hours later they had forgotten half, of the winners while, the people who used our system, effectively. Have, this one time learning, exposure. And, remember. This. Much. For, a long time basically. We're. Doing other work with, memory as well for example, building. Together with both. Glasses. That. Have a very, tiny camera. And that. Helps, the. Person recognize. Individuals. You. Can just actually, move. Your head a little bit this way and the system, will tell you who, the person who is who, is in front of you. And. I'm. Sure. All of you could use that today I, could. Use it already myself, as well and, it. Reminds, you what you last talked about. Basically. So I. Think. I mean I think that these types, of systems, we can built is today, and, I. Think that this can really, help. People with. Quality, of life help, people, remain. Socially. Connected, etc, which is incredibly. Important. For our, health. Creativity. It, has, been known for a long time that. Sleep. And dreams. Specifically. Help, us with, problem-solving, and being creative and there, I don't know whether this is true for. Our previous speakers, but there are Nobel Prize winners, who basically. Credit. Their dreams with coming, up with some.
Of The, solutions. Or the the work that they then received, their prize for. Many. Scientists. And artists. Have actually, used, deliberately. Used, techniques. To be creative. In their dreams, and. There's. A lot, of research, out there that. Shows that, if you can dream about something, you are more likely to solve the problem, etc. Specifically. There's. A technique, that has been used by people such as Tesla. Einstein. Dali, and, others, to. Sort. Of dream in, hypnagogia. Hypnagogia. Is, one of the stages of sleep it's. When you first sort, of, transition. From an awake state to, a sleep state it's you're not in deep sleep at all yet, but, your, prefrontal. Cortex. Starts, being less active which. Enables, more divergent. Thinking. More like less. Logical thinking. So your prefrontal, cortex. Doesn't immediately, shut down all, the, crazy. The ideas, that your brain may, come up with when you're in that stage so. What we did is we built. First. Of all a system to recognize that, stage of sleep using. EEG as, well as heart rate and muscle tone. Sensors. And, we. Have a robot, in, this case it can be a cell phone as well that. Starts. Talking, to you when, you enter, this hypnagogia. Face. And it, reminds. You to think, about, a particular, problem that you want to think, about and, work on so. I. Have. Some audio, here but it's, very hard, to hear because the person, is asleep, they. Do the work but, work tell. Me what are you thinking. Speech. For. So. What we do is we regularly. Chords what, you are saying, to, the robot, in, that stage when you're sort of half awake, half asleep, and. We. Actually tested. How. People, and and did qualitative. Interviews. And, so on with them as well but, we tested how. Creative, people were. After. They experienced. This system. Versus. How. People did that just rest, it but didn't really use. The system, and the, people who use this system that encourages them, to think about in this case it was a fork, but it can be anything, that. You tell it you want to think about those. People actually showed. Some sort, of typical, tests, that, psychologists. Use to test creativity. Such, as the alternative, uses tasks, that, they were more, creative and came up with more ideas. Basically. Than. The, control. Group. Emotion. Regulation. Again. This is something that all of us can. Use some, help with, we. Have been building several. Systems that, help people understand. Enter emotions and control their emotions better they. Range from very, simple, systems. Like, this heart. 3d. Printed, heart model, that. Senses. Your heartbeat, and visualizes. It's both, with lights as well as vibration. And. It. Has. A Bluetooth connection etc. But, so you can basically learn, you, can learn how. Your own heartbeat, can, be slow sped, up or slowed down by your breathing, and, understand. More, about, sort. Of your own body and your emotions, by. Externalizing. This, data to. The person. We've. Built similar, systems. For. Helping, people with mindfulness. There's. So much research coming, out showing that meditation. And mindfulness is, really, good for your health mental, and physical health, but. It's very hard to know whether you're doing the right thing basically. When. You're trying, to meditate so we built a system that uses the again, an EEG headset. In, combination. With virtual, reality and if. Your, mind is showing. Comes. Focus. Or concentration, then, you have magical, powers but as soon as you start. Thinking about what's. For dinner or, I still, have to send that email then. Your magical, powers, disappear. So, you basically learn, over, time to.
Become, To, keep your mind in that focused. State. That. Helps. You be. Mindful. Other. Systems. Are like we've been building I mentioned, before. The. Essence, system, basically, is a scent, display. That. Can release. Sense. Based, on your physiological, data, and your context. So. I'll go a little bit faster, but basically. There's a whole app and, you can see when my when, I'm driving, and, I'm a little bit bit drowsy release. Peppermint. Smell. When I'm too anxious. And, my heart rate is up at, work. Release. Lavender. Or vanilla, etc. Scent. Is really an under explored technology. Even, though it has been shown scientifically. To really, help, people with all sorts of things with pain perception. With. Learning. During sleep, with. Working. Through. Trauma. And anxiety. Etc. And. So, we built the. First wearable, sense. Display. That can basically release, certain, sense and thereby help you. With. All sorts, of issues based. On your personal, real-time, data. So. I hope I've convinced. You I know this is a very new and emerging field, but I am, super. Excited about. The potential, that these wearable. Systems. Have for, enhancing. Our cognition. And for helping, us, again. Become, the person we want to be or maybe remain. The person we want to be I want, to end by saying that, we, are very careful. In. All of our research to, put the user, central. And to respect, the rights of the user and. President. Dr talked about values, of. Our work previously. Some. Of the ones that we try to keep in mind as we build these systems are, listed, here. We, basically tries to make these systems minimally. Disruptive. Make. It it's. Important. That the user knows how, the system, works and what its limitations are. People. Should be in complete, control, of. These systems, we, try to avoid. Dependency. And. Try to internalize. Skills, and, tools. Whenever, possible and last. But not least protection. Of the users privacy, is of course. Incredibly. Important. Thank. You. You. Thanks. For joining us and for more information on how to connect with the MIT Alumni Association please. Visit our website. You.
2018-06-16