Our work
We create products and projects related to the neuroscience of collaboration, empathy, learning and sensory processing.
Products
Synchromouse
Sychromouse is a family of collaborative games that are designed with the help of neuroscientific experiments to maximally induce inter-brain synchronization. In our own research we found that when the brain rhythms of interacting people literally get in sync, it signals better teamwork during a co-op game. Also other research has shown that inter-brain synchrony improves team success in many ways: joint problem-solving, closeness, trust, prosociality and affiliation all increase if interacting people are on the same wavelength.
Synchromouse games are designed on top of this research to intentionally increase brain sync between players. The result is ultra-smooth collaboration together with a feeling of unity, presence and fun. The games can be played just by using the mouse, which makes them a team activity that is accessible to all levels of gamers.
Research Projects
CREDU
CREDU (Creating Novel Technologies of Scalable and Empowering Learning) focused on interaction on online platforms, specifically in the case of learning. Here we focused on the impact of different learning environments on basic mechanisms of learning and trust in collaboration.
HUMEX
HUMEX, or Quantifying Human Experience, was a multidisciplinary research project funded by Tekes (now called Business Finland), an agency that provides government funding to research that contains innovation potential. A portion of funding also came from the 10 partner companies of the project. HUMEX entailed several experiments on interaction in real-life work contexts, and exploration of the effects of different interaction technologies on collaborative phenomena. In HUMEX we took a deep-dive into how technology impacts our neural interaction mechanisms, such as inter-brain synchronization, and how empathy is conveyed in different online encounters.
NEMO
Our NEMO project won the science-based idea competition, Helsinki Challenge, at Helsinki University in 2015. NEMO, or Natural EMOtions in digital interaction, explored different ways of measuring emotions to allow the creation of better technologies for interaction. This was the kick-start to our scientific work on interaction and the creation of technology that would better enable a sense of connection and presence between people.
Projects combining arts, sports and science
Emotion Hack Day
Since 2015, we have been arranging Emotion Hack Day. The purpose of the hackathon is to uncover new ways of measuring and conveying emotions. Many wonderful individuals have taken part in Emotion Hack Day, coming up with creative solutions to deepen emotional communication and understanding in digital interaction.
In 2018, we brought our Emotion Hack Day -hackathon to the LIFT conference arranged by Yle. The hackathon focused on the emotion of joy and sought for new ways of using technology in uncovering, experiencing and perceptualizing joy. The winner of the hackathon cleverly created Rönkäpp - an application specifically designed to evoke joy in the most known news anchor in Finland, Matti Rönkä, who also served as a judge for the hackathon.
In addition to comments from the beloved anchor, we measured the activation of Matti's smile muscles during presentations from the hackathon teams, to obtain an objective measure of joy. You can watch a video of the event on Yle Areena.
Olento at Sideways Festival
In 2016, we collaborated with the amazing artists and engineers of the Olento Collective to create an interactive installation at the Sideways music festival in Helsinki. The installation was set up in a container on the festival grounds. Cameras were placed to view the front rows of audiences at two stages. An algorithm converted the average emotions experienced by the audiences into a digital sculpture that changed shape, texture, color and movement according to the audiences’ emotions.
Feel the Game
In 2016, we created a program for real-time measurement and visualization of a soccer-player’s brain activity during a derby. The work was commissioned by Elisa from Wörks, a Helsinki-based digital agency. The project entailed exciting phases of technological development that can be reviewed in the documentary created of the project.
Synkin' at Slush
Sponsored by Microsoft, we created a game for intentionally synchronizing biosignals for the technology conference Slush in 2016. In the installation, the participants were sat in rocking chairs equipped with measuring EEG, ECG and EDA, and they were tasked with finding out ways to synchronize their body states. Read more about it here.
Bananas for Sónar
Sónar is a multiple-day festival focusing on music, creativity and technology, organized since 1994 The music program of the festival also contains a three-day congress, Sónar+D dedicated to Creativity, Technology and Business.
In 2017, we participated in Sónar+D, sponsored by the Finnish music organization Teosto, to participate in a hackathon with a team of brilliant hand-picked experts. Together we created an installation combining biosignal measurements and music, called Bananas for Sonar.
At Sónar, we discovered that bananas naturally conduct electricity from the human skin. This discovery inspired the installation, in which two participants sat in chairs with armrests equipped with real bananas and listened to the same music. The bananas were connected to biosensors and used for measuring the heart rate and skin conductance of participants. The biosignals were visualized on a screen to show how in sync the individuals were while listening to music.
