Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference
Because of the structural parallelisms between music and computing, it has long been suggested th... more Because of the structural parallelisms between music and computing, it has long been suggested that coding music could be a good way for young children to engage in and learn about computer science (CS). Despite these suggestions, coding music has not reached a wider audience of young children, and the approach's potential to engage them has not been thoroughly demonstrated. To facilitate the adoption of coding music activities, we created M-flow, a flow-based programming platform that allows young children to code music intuitively from the outset. Then, we developed a standards-aligned curriculum that teachers applied in their fourth-grade classrooms. Surveys indicate that children were greatly engaged, the experience successfully exposed them to and increased their self-efficacy toward programming. Our results indicate that with the appropriate coding platform, coding music can be a powerful way to engage children in CS. CCS CONCEPTS • Applied computing → Education; • Human-centered computing → Interactive systems and tools.
Neurons in the CA1 area of the mouse hippocampus encode the position of the animal in an environm... more Neurons in the CA1 area of the mouse hippocampus encode the position of the animal in an environment. However, given the variability in individual neurons responses, the accuracy of this code is still poorly understood. It was proposed that downstream areas could achieve high spatial accuracy by integrating the activity of thousands of neurons, but theoretical studies point to shared fluctuations in the firing rate as a potential limitation. Using high-throughput calcium imaging in freely moving mice, we demonstrated the limiting factors in the accuracy of the CA1 spatial code. We found that noise correlations in the hippocampus bound the estimation error of spatial coding to ~10 cm (the size of a mouse). Maximal accuracy was obtained using approximately [300–1400] neurons, depending on the animal. These findings reveal intrinsic limits in the brain’s representations of space and suggest that single neurons downstream of the hippocampus can extract maximal spatial information from s...
†These authors have contributed equally to this work. Synchrony, or the coordinated processing of... more †These authors have contributed equally to this work. Synchrony, or the coordinated processing of time, is an often-overlooked yet critical context for human interaction. This study tests the relationship between the ability to synchronize rhythmically in a group setting with the ability to attend in 102 elementary schoolchildren. Impairments in temporal processing have frequently been shown to exist in clinical populations with learning disorders, particularly those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Based on this evidence, we hypothesized that the ability to synchronize rhythmically in a group setting—an instance of the type of temporal processing necessary for successful interaction and learning—would be correlated with the ability to attend across the continuum of the population. A music class is an ideal setting for the study of interpersonal timing. In order to measure synchrony in this context, we constructed instruments that allowed the recording and measurement of individual rhythmic performance. The SWAN teacher questionnaire was used as a measurement of attentional behavior. We find that the ability to synchronize with others in a group music class can predict a child’s attentional behavior.
His interests are very diverse, including sensory and neural processing in animals and humans, th... more His interests are very diverse, including sensory and neural processing in animals and humans, the cognitive and neuroscience of music, and the role of music in science education. He has created Listening to Waves, an outreach program on the science of music that has reached thousands of students. Dr. Minces leads the team that designed the tools presented in this poster, which can be accessed for free at www.listeningtowaves.com/sound-exploration
INITIATIVE 1 – TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF THE WORLD Strand 1 . 1 : Learning of Temporal Patterns
Synchrony—the coordinated processing of time, is a critical context for human interaction. The ab... more Synchrony—the coordinated processing of time, is a critical context for human interaction. The ability to synchronize underlies all face to face interpersonal interactions. If an individual proceeds too quickly or too slowly with respect to others, the quality of the interaction and the transfer of information are degraded. Thus, impaired or refined ability at synchrony may ultimately have a strong impact on education outcomes. Group music practice may be one of the most accessible ways to refine or enhance the ability to synchronize. Of all the world's musical cultures, that of the Balinese—featuring a variety of pitched percussion orchestras known as "gamelan"—seems to value and emphasize group synchrony most highly. Teaching this music to American elementary school children for ten years, ethnomusicologist Alexander Khalil observed that ability to synchronize in an ensemble setting—regardless of other musical abilities—seemed to correlate strongly with attentional p...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, May 15, 2017
A primary function of the brain is to form representations of the sensory world. Its capacity to ... more A primary function of the brain is to form representations of the sensory world. Its capacity to do so depends on the relationship between signal correlations, associated with neuronal receptive fields, and noise correlations, associated with neuronal response variability. It was recently shown that the behavioral relevance of sensory stimuli can modify the relationship between signal and noise correlations, presumably increasing the encoding capacity of the brain. In this work, we use data from the visual cortex of the awake mouse watching naturalistic stimuli and show that a similar modification is observed under heightened cholinergic modulation. Increasing cholinergic levels in the cortex through optogenetic stimulation of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons decreases the dependency that is commonly observed between signal and noise correlations. Simulations of correlated neural networks with realistic firing statistics indicate that this change in the correlation structure incr...
Synchrony, or the coordinated processing of time, is an often-overlooked yet critical context for... more Synchrony, or the coordinated processing of time, is an often-overlooked yet critical context for human interaction. This study tests the relationship between the ability to synchronize rhythmically in a group setting with the ability to attend in 102 elementary schoolchildren. Impairments in temporal processing have frequently been shown to exist in clinical populations with learning disorders, particularly those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Based on this evidence, we hypothesized that the ability to synchronize rhythmically in a group setting-an instance of the type of temporal processing necessary for successful interaction and learning-would be correlated with the ability to attend across the continuum of the population. A music class is an ideal setting for the study of interpersonal timing. In order to measure synchrony in this context, we constructed instruments that allowed the recording and measurement of individual rhythmic performance. The SWAN teacher questionnaire was used as a measurement of attentional behavior. We find that the ability to synchronize with others in a group music class can predict a child's attentional behavior.
While the prioritisation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a logical ... more While the prioritisation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a logical step in the effort to develop curricula that meet the increasing technical demands of society, methods of training broad cognitive and pro-social skills such as communication, cooperation, attention and creativity are elusive, yet critical, to the development of a dynamic workforce and healthy society. A growing body of evidence suggests that the practice and study of music may be one such method. The present chapter examines ways in which the practice of music may support education by driving aspects of cognitive development while also calling attention to the fact that music learning, cognitive development and education themselves are inextricably connected to their socio-cultural context. This fact holds important implications both for scientific research on music and for appropriate implementation of music in K-12 curricula.
Researchers devise experiments to improve the motor planning and execution capabilities of childr... more Researchers devise experiments to improve the motor planning and execution capabilities of children with autism. Using eye tracking technology, they collaborated with a developer to create a set of video games which use eye gaze as the controller to steer spaceships, blow up mushrooms and play whack-amole. So far, preliminary results have been promising. Subjects have shown improvements in other fixation and spatial attention tasks after daily videogame training.
Based on recent molecular genetics, as well as functional and quantitative anatomical studies, th... more Based on recent molecular genetics, as well as functional and quantitative anatomical studies, the basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic projections, once viewed as a diffuse system, are emerging as being remarkably specific in connectivity. Acetylcholine (ACh) can rapidly and selectively modulate activity of specific circuits and ACh release can be coordinated in multiple areas that are related to particular aspects of cognitive processing. This review discusses how a combination of multiple new approaches with more established techniques are being used to finally reveal how cholinergic neurons, together with other BF neurons, provide temporal structure for behavior, contribute to local cortical state regulation, and coordinate activity between different functionally related cortical circuits. ACh selectively modulates dynamics for encoding and attention within individual cortical circuits, allows for important transitions during sleep, and shapes the fidelity of sensory processing by changing the correlation structure of neural firing. The importance of this system for integrated and fluid behavioral function is underscored by its disease-modifying role; the demise of BF cholinergic neurons has long been established in Alzheimer's disease and recent studies have revealed the involvement of the cholinergic system in modulation of anxietyrelated circuits. Therefore, the BF cholinergic system plays a pivotal role in modulating the dynamics of the brain during sleep and behavior, as foretold by the intricacies of its anatomical map.
We report the construction of an electronic device that models and replaces a neuron in a midbody... more We report the construction of an electronic device that models and replaces a neuron in a midbody ganglion of the leech Hirudo medicinalis. In order to test the behavior of our device, we used a well-characterized synaptic interaction between the mechanosensory, sensitive to pressure, (P) cell and the anteropagoda (because of the action potential shape) (AP) neuron. We alternatively stimulated a P neuron and our device connected to the AP neuron, and studied the response of the latter. The number and timing of the AP spikes were the same when the electronic parameters were properly adjusted. Moreover, after changes in the depolarization of the AP cell, the responses under the stimulation of both the biological neuron and the electronic device vary in a similar manner.
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Papers by Victor Minces