Neuroset Italia srl

The idea behind our Workshop + OpenLab was to invite people at the University of Basilicata’s Campus, to informally talk about the visual brain. We wanted people to have fun with some lab tools (eye tracking glasses) while enjoying a sparkling Aperitivo (in the late afternoon). First we had a short (one hour) workshop meeting, during which we talked about the visual cortex, the magnocellular an parvo cellular pathways and how we see high frequency/low freq images. Then we explored some recent discoveries about visual impairments in autism and dyslexia. We had people trying how eye trackers work by engaging them in a funny “Ninja Fruit” game, where they had to cut fruit by making appropriate ocular movements. Then they where experiencing how it is to be a dyslexic person, trying to follow and read “dancing” texts in the PC screen, while wearing the eye tracker device . Finally we had a “Neuro-Cocktail party”, an informal Aperitivo event during which we chatted about potential applications of Eyetracking devices and how the brain segments the visual scenes. Supported by the University fellows (Dept. of Engineering) and by the T3 Innovation team, we had interesting chats with other University teams (IT, mathematics) for potential collaborations on common projects, and enthusiastic feedbacks from the audience. We’ll be replying the experience next year, possibly by enriching the OpenLab “neuro”-games.

Biggest outcome: people becoming aware there’s a group of researchers in the Basilicata Region (our Group) working on visual abilities and autism (we are currently prototyping an app that uses neurofeedback training to help autistic children improve their visual skills and interpersonal abilities). Immediate outcomes: partnerships with the Basilicata University’s Dept. of IT.

We’ve learned how important it is to provide a game session within a workshop event.

It was helpful. Like it a lot.