Embodiments, visualizations, and immersion with enactive affective systems

Abstract

Our proposal in Bioart and Biomedical Engineering for a ective esthetics focuses on the expanded sensorium and investigates problems regarding enactive systems. These systems enhance the sensorial experiences and amplify kinesthesia by adding the sensations that are formed in response to the physical world, which aesthetically constitutes the principle of synaesthesia. In this paper, we also present enactive systems inside the CAVE, con guring compelling experiences in data landscapes and human a ective narratives. The interaction occurs through the acquisition, data visualization and analysis of several synchronized physiological signals, to which the landscapes respond and provide immediate feedback, according to the detected participants' actions and the intertwined responses of the environment. The signals we use to analyze the human states include the electrocardiography (ECG) signal, the respiratory ow, the galvanic skin response (GSR) signal, plantar pressures, the pulse signal and others. Each signal is collected by using a speci cally designed dedicated electronic board, with reduced dimensions, so it does not interfere with normal movements, according to the principles of transparent technologies. Also, the electronic boards are implemented in a modular approach, so they are independent, and can be used in many di erent desired combinations, and at the same time provide synchronization between the collected data.