Grounding Research: An alternative proposition...

Listening to the class' great ideas today i was inspired... Of special note here is Luke's bio-feedback mood lamp.

This got me thinking about an old idea i had a few years ago... a presentation i called "Getting High on Your Own Supply".

The basic premise of this idea began with a simple neurofeedback loop between a generative music algorithm ('the machine') and the user (via e.e.g.)... the idea is that after entrainment, and using a bio-feedback loop, the machine should be able to recursively hone in on the sounds / environs makes the user 'happy' or 'content'... whilst moving further and further away from those combinations of sounds that do not...

This is effectively leading to the point where the user effortlessly is tailoring the auditory environment to his or her taste, and hopefully eventually towards stimulation of the musically responsive reward centers in the brain to release dopamine and serotonin and other endorphins.

Here is a link to the paper i wrote back in 2009.... and the associated keynote... have to dl&unzip the archive... sorry if its a little dry and technical, but i think it explains the ideas and a bit of history better than i can do here...


With the cost of these low-channel count e.e.g's falling dramatically recently, it stands that the units with a reasonable channel count should not be far behind... This would enable this idea to be developed further, and perhaps even realised? 

check out Emotiv Systems for details of such a unit, and the incredible  Tan Le on ted.com for a (rather dated now) demonstration...