Imágenes digitales del cerebro en la década de 1970: la construcción de una tecnología híbrida / Digital brain imaging in the 1970s building a hybrid technology

La tomografía computarizada (TC), una tecnología basada en la combinación de radiología y computación, fue utilizada para la exploración de un tumor cerebral en una paciente de un hospital de Londres en 1971. La cabeza de la persona se introdujo en un escáner, fabricado por la empresa discográfica británica EMI, para medir la cantidad de radiación absorbida por los diferentes puntos del cerebro. La imagen confeccionada constaba de una matriz tonal digital que se materializó en papel prensa, en tubo de rayos catódicos y en una fotografía Polaroid. En este artículo se mostrará el proceso de producción de la imagen TC, una representación visual que se convertiría, a partir de la década de 1970, en una tecnología habitual para las neurociencias contemporáneas, además de paradigma de representación visual en el tránsito de lo analógico a lo digital. Para ello analizaremos las implicaciones de la imagen radiográfica, inventada en un momento de auge de la imagen-movimiento, donde se enmarcan las cronofotografías, las secuencias de imágenes y la cinematografía. En este análisis haremos hincapié en los diferentes regímenes escópicos donde se encuentran cada una de las imágenes. El conocimiento, que llevó a la construcción del dispositivo, circuló entre la clínica, la industria y el laboratorio. En la construcción de las TC participaron una diversidad de agentes, incluida la computadora, la radiación por rayos X, un equipo de ingenieros electrónicos, un grupo de neurorradiólogos del Hospital Atkinson Marley y el escáner de rayos X, entre otros. Además, veremos la repercusión de varios factores vinculados a la epistemología de la imagen TC, como lo concerniente al reforzamiento clínico en el diagnóstico clínico, la vinculación de lo morfológico a lo psíquico en relación al cerebro y el tránsito de la imagen-movimiento a la imagen-tiempo. (AU)

Computed tomography (CT), a technology based on the combination of radiology and computation, was used to scan a patient’s brain tumor in a London hospital in 1972. The patient’s head was introduced into a scanner, manufactured by the British record company EMI, to measure the amount of radiation absorbed by different points in the brain. The resulting image consisted of a digital tonal matrix that was materialized on newsprint, a cathode ray tube, and a Polaroid photograph. This article describes the production process of the CT image, a visual representation that would become, from the 1970s onwards, a common technology for contemporary neurosciences and a paradigm of visual representation in the transition from analog to digital. To this end, we analyze the implications of the radiographic image, invented at a time of the rise of theimage-movement in which chronophotographs, image sequences, and cinematography are framed. In this analysis, we focus on the scopic regime in which each image is found. The knowledge that led to construction of the device circulated between the clinic, industry, and laboratory. A variety of agents were involved in the construction of CT scans, including the computer, X-ray radiation, a team of electronic engineers, a group of neuroradiologists from Atkinson Marley Hospital, and the X-ray scanner, among others. We also report on the impact of several factors associated with the epistemology of CT imaging, such as the reinforcement of clinical diagnoses, the linking of the morphological to the psychic in relation to the brain, and the transition from image-motion to image-time. (AU)

The potential of mind wandering in the recovery from addiction.

The paper develops a critical reflection on the fabulative filmic collaboration with a participant suffering from heroin addiction and creates a line of flight from the dominant biomedical, sociocultural and psychological research. The artistic research articulates a cinema practice that seeks to address the issue of addictive behaviours in a way that has rarely been investigated, with a focus on the recovery process in the long-term. The paper asks how a creative practice with mind wandering as core component allows for recovery practices to challenge recurrent, preconceived and limited representation strategies that have been widely used for people recovering from addiction as medical patients, research participants and filmic figures. Exploring addiction in the context of artistic research unveils the potential of mind wandering in the recovery from addiction. The paper advocates for mind wandering to be a starting point to reconsider therapy concepts from the hypothesis that mind wandering is a helpful tool rather than a risk factor. Artistic research enables one to see the recovery from addiction as a becoming life force, in its affirmative as well as diminishing tendencies, and asks what addiction can do and how its recovery process can become a mode of existence in its own right.

The Sounds of Softness. Designing Sound for Human-Soft Robot Interaction.

In this article, we report on research and creative practice that explores the aesthetic interplay between movement and sound for soft robotics. Our inquiry seeks to interrogate what sound designs might be aesthetically engaging and appropriate for soft robotic movement in a social human-robot interaction setting. We present the design of a soft sound-producing robot, SONO, made of pliable and expandable silicone and three sound designs made for this robot. The article comprises an articulation of the underlying design process and results from two empirical interaction experiments (N = 66, N = 60) conducted to evaluate the sound designs. The sound designs did not have statistically significant effects on people's perception of the social attributes of two different soft robots. Qualitative results, however, indicate that people's interpretations of the sound designs depend on robot type.

The Robot is Present: Creative Approaches for Artistic Expression With Robots.

There is growing interest in developing creative applications for robots, specifically robots that provide entertainment, companionship, or motivation. Identifying the hallmarks of human creativity and discerning how these processes might be replicated or assisted by robots remain open questions. Transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and engineers can offer insights into how robots might foster creativity for human artists and open up new pathways for designing interactive systems. This paper presents an exploratory research project centered on drawing with robots. Using an arts-led, practice-based methodology, we developed custom hardware and software tools to support collaborative drawing with an industrial robot. A team of artists and engineers collaborated over a 6-month period to investigate the creative potential of collaborative drawing with a robot. The exploratory project focused on identifying creative and collaborative processes in the visual arts, and later on developing tools and features that would allow robots to participate meaningfully in these processes. The outcomes include a custom interface for controlling and programming robot motion (EMCAR) and custom tools for replicating experimental techniques used in visual art. We report on the artistic and technical outcomes and identify key features of process-led (as opposed to outcome-led) approaches for designing collaborative and creative systems. We also consider the value of embodied and tangible interaction for artists working collaboratively with computational systems. Transdisciplinary research can help researchers uncover new approaches for designing interfaces for interacting with machines.

Regulation of Emotions to Optimize Classical Music Performance: A Quasi-Experimental Study of a Cellist-Researcher.

The situational context within which an activity takes place, as well as the personality characteristics of individuals shape the types of strategies people choose in order to regulate their emotions, especially when confronted with challenging or undesirable situations. Taking self-regulation as the framework to study emotions in relation to learning and performing chamber music canon repertoire, this quasi-experimental and intra-individual study focused on the self-rated emotional states of a professional classical cellist during long-term sustained practice across 100-weeks. This helped to develop greater awareness of different emotions and how they vary over artistic events (9 profiled concerts and 1 commercially recorded album). Data analysis included traditional psychometric measurements to test the internal consistency of the time series data as well as the relationship between variables (artistic events). The study mapped the cellist's flexible regulation of 17 different positive and negative emotions empirically linked to learning and achievement while practicing within the social context of performing music publicly at a high level. Findings arising from the study help with understandings of how to support musicians to maximize their artistic potential by reducing emotion dysregulation and strengthening the types of adaptive methods that enable them to manage their own emotions.

The Clay Hand Illusion and the Embodiment of Unfeasible Objects.

In an artistic exploration, clay hands and nonhand-like, unfeasible clay objects were created by the participant and used to perform an alternative version of the rubber hand illusion. Most participants felt ownership even over these unfeasible objects, raising questions about the embodied experience of objects that we make.

Applying Self-Regulated Learning and Self-Determination Theory to Optimize the Performance of a Concert Cellist.

The professional practice of classical music performers has been better understood and enhanced across the last two decades through research aimed at tailoring rehearsing strategies that support the development of a sense of self as an agentic and proactive learner. One approach focuses on helping students make use of various tools that can enhance their learning, particularly in terms of what they do, feel and think when practicing and performing music. This study expands literature on expertise development by embracing the idea that this line of research would benefit from additional studies where the researcher forms part of the research process as an active participant who generates data, especially when these researchers are "members" of the social world they study, and therefore have insider knowledge. Thus, this case study is focused on the first author, a professional cellist who is also a researcher in the educational psychology of music, as the only participant. It extends current research by providing a detailed longitudinal mapping of a professional cellist's preparation across nine profiled concerts in five countries of classical-romantic repertoire and a commercial recording that resulted from 100 weeks of dedicated practice. Anonymous feedback from the audiences and interviews with an expert musician who followed the concerts and the CD recording was also collected. For the data analysis, traditional psychometric measurements were applied to test the internal consistency of the time series data as well as the relationship between variables. In addition, the application of Leximancer analysis of the self-reflections allowed the researchers to probe self-regulated learning (SRL) and self-determination theory (SDT) processes in ways that uniquely mapped, over time, her differing motivations to perform at a high level. Specifically, we report that the cellist's psychological needs and her motivational resources changed across time within the social context of performing music publicly, and that the various self-regulatory processes she drew upon impacted (both positively and negatively) on her ongoing actions, thoughts and feelings. Implications of the study are relevant for all forms of expertise development research, and especially for understandings about the nature of skill development in the context of learning to perform demanding literature in music.

Mapping responsible conduct in the uncharted field of research-creation: A scoping review.

This scoping review addresses the issues of responsible conduct of research (RCR) that can arise in the practice of research-creation (RC), an emergent, interdisciplinary, and heterogeneous field at the interface of academic research and creative activities. Little is yet known about the nature and scope of RCR issues in RC, so our study examined three questions: (1) What are the specific issues in RC in relation to RCR? (2) How does the specificity of RC influence the understanding and practice of RCR? (3) What recommendations could help address the issues highlighted in the literature? To answer these questions, we conducted a scoping review of the academic literature (n = 181 texts) dealing with RCR in RC. We found that researcher-creators faced some very different RCR challenges in comparison with their colleagues in the rest of academia. Addressing these issues is important for both the RCR and RC communities in order to ensure that the rapid development of this field occurs in line with the norms of RCR which, nonetheless, should be adapted to respect the particularities of RC and allow its contributions to the academic world.

Las vicisitudes de la investigación artística y ambiental en los comités de ética: estudio de dos casos / The vicissitudes of artistic and environmental research in ethics committees: study of two cases / As vicissitudes da pesquisa artística e ambiental em comitês de ética: estudo de dois casos

En este artículo se describen algunas de las dificultades presentadas cuando se postulan, para su evaluación y aval de parte del comité de ética, proyectos de investigación de áreas del conocimiento con lenguajes y lógicas que se alejan de la investigación clínica. Se presentan dos casos, cuyos objetos de conocimiento tienen epistemologías disímiles a los que usualmente se deliberan en estas instancias. El primero trata de una instalación de arte que permitió el estudio del vínculo afectivo entre seres humanos y ratones de laboratorio. Se analizan las solicitudes puntuales de parte del comité de ética y las respuestas emitidas por la artista para obtener su aprobación. El segundo consiste en la introducción de la planta invasora Tá m ar i x spp en el ecosistema ribereño de los Estados Unidos, convirtiéndose en el sitio de anidamiento del ave atrapamoscas Empidonax trailii extimus en peligro de extinción. Este fenómeno suscitó cuestiones éticas desafiantes para los restauradores ecológicos en su búsqueda por el significado de lo natural. Se concluye que los comités de ética podrían acoger la perspectiva de los conocimientos situados de Donna Haraway y la teoría del actor-red de Bruno Latour, que sugieren que, en el afán de alcanzar una universalidad, la ciencia ha tendido a buscar una estandarización reduccionista de la diversidad de significados.

This article describes some of the difficulties when a research project pertaining to knowledge areas with languages and logics that are distant from clinical research is submitted to an ethics committee for its evaluation and approval. Two cases, with different knowledge object epistemologies to the ones usually deliberated in those instances are presented. The first case deals with an art installation that allowed the study of the link of affection between human beings and lab mice. The ethics committee's punctual requests and the answers given by the artist are analyzed in order to get its approval. The second case describes the introduction of the invasive species plant Tamarix spp in the riparian ecosystem of the United States, becoming the nesting site of an endangered flycatcher bird Empidonax trailii extimus. This phenomenon prompted challenging ethics issues for the ecological restorationists in their search for the meaning of the natural. The authors conclude ethics committees should welcome Donna Haraway's situated knowledges perspective and Bruno Latour's actor-network theory suggesting that in the pursue of reaching a universality, science has tended to standardize diverse meanings in a reductionist way.

Este artigo descreve algumas das dificuldades apresentadas quando elas são postuladas, para avaliação e aprovação por parte do comitê de ética, projetos de pesquisa nas áreas de conhecimento com linguagens e lógicas que se desviam da pesquisa clínica. Apresentamos dois casos, cujos objetos de conhecimento têm diferentes epistemologias que são geralmente discutidas nestes casos. A primeira é uma instalação de arte que permitiu o estudo sobre o vínculo emocional entre os seres humanos e ratos. Analisa solicitações de parte específica do Comitê de ética e as respostas emitidas pelo artista para aprovação. A segunda é a introdução da planta invasora Tamarix spp no ecossistema costeiro dos Estados Unidos, tornando-se o lugar da nidificação da ave papa-moscas Empidonax trailii extimus em perigo de extinção. Este fenômeno suscitou questões éticas desafiadoras para os restauradores de ecossistemas em sua busca pelo significado do natural. Conclui-se que os comitês de ética poderiam adoptar a perspectiva de conhecimento situado de Donna Haraway e a teoria ator-rede de Bruno Latour, que sugerem que, no esforço para atingir a universalidade, a ciência tem tendido a procurar uma padronização reducionista da diversidade do significados.

The Composer's Program Note for Newly Written Classical Music: Content and Intentions.

In concerts of western classical music the provision of a program note is a widespread practice dating back to the 18th century and still commonly in use. Program notes tend to inform listeners and performers about historical context, composer biographical details, and compositional thinking. However, the scant program note research conducted to date reveals that program notes may not foster understanding or enhance listener enjoyment as previously assumed. In the case of canonic works, performers and listeners may already be familiar with much of the program note information. This is not so in the case of newly composed works, which formed the basis of the exploratory study reported here. This article reports the views of 17 living contemporary composers on their writing of program notes for their own works. In particular, the study sought to understand the intended recipient, role and the content of composer-written program notes. Participating composers identified three main roles for their program notes: to shape a performer's interpretation of the work; to guide, engage or direct the listener and/or performer; and as collaborative mode of communication between the composer, performer, and listener. For some composers, this collaboration was intended to result in "performative listening" in which listeners were actively engaged in bringing each composition to life. This was also described as a form of empathy that results in the co-construction of the musical experience. Overall, composers avoided giving too much personal information and they provided performers with more structural information. However, composers did not agree on whether the same information should be provided to both performers and listeners. Composers' responses problematize the view of a program note as a simple statement from writer to recipient, indicating instead a more complex set of relations at play between composer, performer, listener, and the work itself. These relations are illustrated in a model. There are implications for program note writers and readers, and for educators. Future research might seek to enhance understanding of program notes, including whether the written program note is the most effective format for communications about music.

Aperturas epistémicas y transformaciones intersubjetivas: Haciendo acompañamiento académico a tesis de maestría / Epistemic initiatives and inter-subjective transformations: Doing academic work in the field of the master dissertation

Antecedentes. Se retoman los orígenes individuales e interesados de los recorridos registrados por quienes hacen tesis de maestría. Objetivo. Repensar los nexos entre las formas de hacer investigación y acompañamiento académico a tesis de posgrado. Materiales y métodos. Remiten a los procesos investigativos de cuatro tesistas en tres maestrías de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia: discapacidad e inclusión social (2), estudios de género (1) y educación con énfasis en comunicación (1), recurriendo a la auto-reflexividad. Resultados. Los resultados narrativos dan cuenta de las relaciones estudiantiles con el saber mientras hacen investigaciones académicas. Conclusión. Señala que las experiencias académicas contienen epistemologías de resistencia y cambios en los modos de hacer investigación. Se afianzan tanto las aperturas epistémicas como las transformaciones intersubjetivas.

Background. Afford the main arguments explored in four researches respect to three master programs. Objective. Considering the main characteristics of the academic work in the field of the master theses. Material and methods. The article includes a reflective analyse about origins, intellectual interests and individual work: disability and social inclusion (2), gender studies (1) and education-communication (1). Results. Explain the relations between researchers and knowledge, according to the conceptual and empirical dimensions. Conclusions. Examines critical aspects of academic experiences, epistemologies of resistance and research perspectives. Present the epistemic initiatives and the inter-subjective transformations.