Scientists and science students are taking an increasing interest in communicating their research to the public. Mo is a neuroscientist with a popular blog, Neurophilosophy, which collects the most interesting finds in neuroscience and presents them in accessible ways. We asked him to write a short piece for Dream Lab on the function of sleep and its relation to memory – a topic especially interesting to students!

‘We spend approximately one third of our lives asleep, but the exact function of what Edgar Allan Poe called “those little splices of death” has long eluded researchers. In recent years, though, numerous studies have provided evidence that sleep is essential for the consolidation of newly formed memories.

Some of these studies involve presenting two groups of participants with a list of words to memorize. One group is then told to get a good night’s sleep, while the other is made to stay awake. When asked to recall the word list the following day, those participants who slept are found to perform consistently better than those who don’t. The same appears to be true for other forms of memory, such as learning a sequence of finger movements (a form of motor learning). And it is not just long periods of sleep which enhance memory formation – day-time power naps have been shown to have the same effect.

Conversely, sleep deprivation has been found to have an adverse effect on memory. In one recent study, volunteers were first asked to learn a word list; later on, they were shown the same list, but unbeknownst to them, the researchers had added some new words. When asked to recall whether each of these words was present in the first. Sleep-deprived participants gave more false responses than those allowed to sleep. Intriguingly, the false memories induced by sleep loss were reduced by caffeine – sleep-deprived participants who drank a cup of coffee before the recall trial produced 10% fewer false responses than those who did not.
How sleep enhances memory is unclear. Memory formation is widely believed to be involve the strengthening of synapses, the junctions at which nerve cells communicate with one another. It was long thought that the brain rests during sleep, but this is not the case. While apparently off-line, it buzzes with activity, and in fact is more active in sleep than it is during waking hours. This may be because the brain is replaying the day’s experiences, by activating the pathways which encode them. In so doing, it may also be strengthening the appropriate connections, and facilitating the transfer of memories from the parts of the brain where they are formed to those involved in their long-term storage.’

See Mo’s blog for more topics related to the brain and science research.

Nick Knight’s ‘Sleep’ is a lyrical exploration of what could be called the aesthetics of sleep. Currently showing at the impressive vaulted galleries of London’s Somerset House, SHOWstudio’s ‘Fashion Revolution’ is a collection of visually-led art installations that turn the lens on fashion. ‘Sleep’ was just one of these. The SHOWstudio website describes the idea and methodology:

On 10 & 11 December 2001, nine top models arrived at The Metropolitan Hotel to participate in the first ever global, live fashion shoot. The girls were dressed by stylists, had their hair, make-up and nails groomed, and were put to bed in their separate hotel rooms. SHOWstudio viewers logged on at midnight and through the night as the models’ gentle slumber and gradual dishevelment was recorded in a series of intimate stills.

By broadcasting the models while asleep, Knight made a normally private act extremely public, reflecting the fashion industry’s obsession with celebrity. The fully-dressed models were perfectly poised at times and at others, seem to fall under the spell of sleep with all of its awkward positions: a further reminder of the universal nature of sleep, a phenomena which affects us all.

Explore the ‘Sleep’ project here, and the Somerset House exhibition here.

SCAN http://www.scansite.org  is the media arts agency developing digital and interdisciplinary arts in South England through national and international projects. Currently based in The Media School, Bournemouth University SCAN works in collaboration with the university and other organisations and individuals to create high quality interdisciplinary projects that present new models and ideas of practice.

I, as Director of SCAN, have worked at the intersection of art and science since mid-1990s and bring this experience to SCAN’s projects. I have a role as consultant curator on Tina Gonsalves’s project Chameleon (funded by Wellcome Trust and other supporters) looking at emotional contagion – stage 9 of this iterative project opens at Fabrica Gallery, Brighton UK on Friday October 2^nd  http://www.fabrica.org.uk  with the final piece due to be shown at Inspace, Edinburgh in May 2010 http://www.mediascot.org/

 SCAN has worked with Tina Gonsalves over a number of projects including the incorporation of Tina’s interactive jewellery piece Medulla Intimata for the conference Wearable Futures, 2005. Our work involves supporting the development of artists’ work over a period of time rather than through one-off commission or exhibition of work. Chameleon marks a significant development of  Gonsalves’ process and SCAN’s involvement in that work.  http://www.tinagonsalves.com

 SCAN’s interdisciplinary projects are broad and have included the development of  technological prototypes and tools for artists; facilitating artists working with physicists, engineers and neuroscientists; artists working with materials scientists and we are about to embark on a project looking at the role that bacterial behaviour can play in textile design.

 In relation to sleep and dreaming, I would like to draw your attention to two artists’ work that is relevant to this call. It demonstrates two different ways in which artists approach the subject of sleep in an interdisciplinary context.

 Emilia Telese’s work Sleepwalking recovered and reconstructed the journey Telese’s father made to the New Forest shortly before his death in September 2001, a journey from which she was absent. It is a daughter’s attempt to recreate the intimacy of lost memories, to share the unshared, to celebrate and remember her father’s life. Sleepwalking was also an insight into the physical aspects and consequences of sleep, its sensory implications and its quality during illness. Emilia filmed herself whilst asleep at a number of locations in the New Forest, at various times of day, during her residency at ArtSway in 2002.  She worked with psychologist Luca Becherini of University of Florence  to consider the affects of sleep psychologically and physiologically. http://www.emiliatelese.com/multimedia/sleepwalking/sleepwalking.php

 Luke Jerram’s Dream Director explores the boundaries of participants’ conscious and subconscious minds, prompting questions about the ethics of and possibilities for, creating art in dream space. It is also a new tool for sleep science and clinical applications that raises questions about the rules of interaction and boundaries of science and art. The Dream Director invites people to sleep overnight in a gallery. Specially designed “pods” house the dreamers who don eye-masks that detect rapid eye movement, indicating the dreaming stage of sleep. When the dreamers reach their dream state, their eye masks trigger ambient sounds via a computer, which are played into small speakers mounted into the pod, in an attempt to affect the nature and content of their dreams. http://www.dreamdirector.net

My name is Tina Gonsalves. I am an artist. Over the last few years my work has investigated the intersections of art, technology and science.  I am currently working with world-leaders in psychology, neuroscience and emotion computing in order to research and produce moving image artworks that respond to your emotions. I create installation video works, mobile and wearable technology works respond to pulse, sweat, voice and emotional expressions. I have investigated how emotions under reveal themselves hypnosis, performed emotions, movement and emotions, and using techniques to probe and entrain emotions.

With Feel:Insula (2006/2007) I worked with clinical psychologist Dr David Oakley who works in the area of hypnosis. I asked Oakley to hypnotise me into a range of emotional states. I documented the process via two video cameras. I have turned this into a video installation.  “ she (the artist) is encountered in a hypnotic state, at peace, silent, yet vulnerable.  The scale of the projection is itself unnerving, provocative.  She is very much, to use another colloquialism, in your face. The simple act of entering the gallery prompts her to wake up, as if in direct response to your presence.  You keep still, vigilant.  The artist, comforted by this quiescence, drifts back into hypnosis, speaking from the depths of her unconscious, recalling distressing memories and anxieties.  The more still you remain, the more intimate the recollections become.  These recollections in turn impact upon the emotional state of the unprepared visitor, who is now situated as an unexpected confidant”. Darren Tofts, Artlink 2008.

My current project, Chameleon Project, investigates the scientific foundations of emotional contagion, drawing attention to how we innately and continuously synchronize with the facial expressions, voices and postures of others by unconsciously infecting each other with our emotions.  It both follows and critiques the scientific methodology, creating scientific and artistic research, as well as new models to be used in scientific experiments, and new ways to experience art. The final exhibition of the work will take place in 2010.  The work has been core-supported by the Wellcome Trust, The Australia Council for the Arts, The Australian Network for Art and Technology Synapse Residency, Arts Council England, Lighthouse, Banff New Media Institute, University College London, MIT Media Lab, Solent University Rapid Prototyping Lab, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, SCAN and Dana Center @ the Science Museum.

Other earlier works explore the affective results of emotional states, and how they reveal themselves on our psycho-physiology.  Through responsive bio-feedback from the audience such as heart rate, sweat and movement, a change of video narrative results.  

I am currently artist in resident at the Wellcome Department of Neuroimaging London, UK, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, USA, Nokia Research Labs Tampere, Finland and Brighton and Sussex Medical School Brighton, UK.

http://www.tinagonsalves.com

In 2002, the London Science Museum hosted ‘Head On: Art with the Brain in Mind’, exhibiting works resulting from one of the first attempts to pair artists and scientists creatively. Artist Andrew Carnie was one of the participants. Paired with Dr Richard Wingate of Kings College, at the Medical Research Council Centre for Developmenal Neurology, Andrew created an artwork representing the growing brain. The bright tree-like structures multiply across the screen, mirroring growing neural connections, before collapsing into blackness and beginning again.

At the time the exhibition was reviewed, Andrew Carnie wrote a piece for the Observer newspaper about his experience. It’s still relevant today and some of his predictions seem to be coming true…

In the longer term, a collaboration like ours promises more thorough artistic participation in the scientific vision. As they gain maturity, we might well see artists spending more time in scientific laboratories, gaining formal scientific training, and maybe even becoming part of research teams, integrated into the scientific research itself.

The practice of science is not isolated from the world we live in. Science has its politics, its economics, its fashions even. And anecdotally at least, some of the scientists involved in ‘sci-art’ collaborations report an intellectual engagement in them that goes further than personal enjoyment. It’s not just that it allows them to get out of their labs a bit more; it also seems to offer a different way of looking at their own work as scientists…

There is one other player in these debates that we need to remember – the public. Head On and the other exhibitions planned for the Wellcome Trust’s new gallery at the Science Museum are meant for a wider audience than artists and scientists, most of whom are pretty unlikely to be familiar with the practices of either. By providing a space in which science and art can rub shoulders, the latent interest in both can be engaged, and this irrespective of whether they are intriguingly similar or profoundly different.

The artist, the scientist and the interested observer – Carnie reminds us that all three are part of the experiment in these cross-disciplinary projects.

Explore more of Andrew Carnie’s science-inspired art and beautiful imagery here.

This lovely short film showcases some of the best projects in the Wellcome’s funding scheme for science and creative communication. There are many wonderful examples, from Bobby Baker’s theatre productions to interactive kinetic sculptures and learning games – have a look, and hope you find it as inspiring as I did!

Engaging Science film

People have long been interested in recording dreams – from the time of the ancient Greeks, when dreams were assumed to have a prophetic or mystic element, to the present day, when many choose to write down their dreams in personal diaries. In 2008 a team of Japanese scientists created a first step towards a machine that could record dreams. Through advanced MRI scanning technology, scientists can indirectly ‘see’ what is happening in the brain. By scanning the subject’s visual cortex, they now hope to be able to correlate these two to get a vague picture of what the person is seeing. It’s still a long way from really recording a dream – or reading another person’s mind – but it’s a step closer to a long-standing vision of the future.

See a video clip of the Dream Recording Machine here.

Previous posts have looked at the relationship between sleep and sound in art and science. The House of Music in Vienna is dedicated to music and the phenomena of sound. There is a whole floor dedicated to installations explaining the scientific aspects of sound. These range from soundscapes, where people can ‘tune in’ to different kind of sound environments (city life, the jungle, other planets) and create their own music mixes to take home, to interactive kiosks that explain the dynamics of pitch and intensity. It’s a great example of ways in which science can be made creative and exciting!

House of Music website

Sleep research has been in the news a good deal – this story describes how researchers have found a genetic variation that lets people get by on less sleep. How did they do it? According to the report, a 68-year-old woman contacted a research unit with the information that she had ‘an unusually early morning wake-up time. Both the woman and her daughter go to bed between 10 and 10:30 p.m. and wake up between 4 and 4:30 in the morning.’ By studying the woman’s DNA, the researchers were able to identify a genetic variation called DEC2, that they were then able to introduce into a colony of mice. The result? Mice that don’t sleep as much as other mice. Interestingly, these mice were also more active, running 1.5 hours more on their wheels. Perhaps this explains how certain people seem to fit so much into one day!

Michael Johnson is one of the UK’s best known communication designers. Read his top tips on how to make the list of finalists for Beijing.

I’m delighted to have joined the judging panel as design adviser, and am looking forward to talking to the teams. I have worked on a number of projects for Science Museum that combined science and creative ideas. I know what a challenge that can be and I am really looking forward to helping the teams.

My advice for the first stage of developing your ideas for Dream Lab:

1. Have a lot of great ideas in the beginning.

2. Then pick and develop the one that is truly unusual, and will
stand out.

3. Pick the one that pushes everyone in your team  as far as possible.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Everyone needs advice!

Johnson and his company’s work have been awarded with many of the creative world’s most prestigious prizes, including 8 pencils from D&AD, and 4 cubes from the New York Art Directors club. Johnson has been selected three times as one of Design Week’s ‘Hot Fifty’, is an ex-D&AD president and has dozens of samples of his work in the permanent collection of the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum). His work has been shown at many exhibitions at London’s Design Museum and Barbican Gallery, and was the subject of a solo show in Tokyo in 2004.

He is an external examiner at Kingston University (before that, Glasgow School of Art), lectures across the world and contributes regularly to the creative press. In 2002 Phaidon Press published Johnson’s first book, called ‘Problem Solved: a primer in design and communication’, now in its 5^th reprint. His blog, thought for the week, has thousands of daily subscribers and sometimes receives 40,000 visitors a week.