The Origins of Music and of Tonal Languages

This chapter offers the author's theory of the origins of music in ancient primates a million years ago, and what music would have sounded like. Origins of nasal and tone languages and the anatomy of larynx is discussed, and then a hypothesis is presented that these creatures would fashioned a tone language. They had absolute pitch that allowed them to recognize other voices, to read each other's emotions from the sounds they made with their voices, and to convey over long distances specific information about strategies, meeting places, etc. Having an acute sense of pitch, they would have sung, essentially using tonal language for aesthetic and subjective purposes. Thus, they would have invented music. Then the physicality of the human (or hominid) voice is discussed and the way an absolute pitch can be acquired, as the musicality still lies in the vocalisms it expresses. The reason for this is that music is actually contained in the way the brain works, and the ear and the voice are parts of this system. The final part discusses the origins of musical emotion as the case for imprinting in the perinatal period.

Building Virtual Driving Environments From Computer-Made Projects

The virtual environments used in scientific driving simulation experiments require extensive 3D models of road landscapes, correctly modeled and similar to those found in the real world. The modeling task of these environments, addressing the terrain definition and the specific characteristics required by the target applications, may result in a complex and time-consuming process. This chapter presents a procedural method to model large terrain definitions and adjust the roadside landscape to produce well-constructed road environments. The proposed procedural method allows merging an externally modeled road into a terrain definition, providing an integrated generation of driving environments. The road and terrain models are optimized to interactive visualization in real time, by applying most state-of-art techniques like the level of detail selection and spatial hierarchization. The proposed method allows modeling large road environments, with the realism and quality required to perform experimental studies in driving simulators.

CulturalNature Arga#2

CulturalNature Arga#2 is an interactive audio-visual installation intended to explore the concept of landscape as a verb (to landscape) questioning and reflecting about the semiotic discourses associated with this concept. The landscape as something natural, static, peaceful, silent, etc. is a semiotic discourse with roots in a past related with the representation of a point of view, not only perceptual but also conceptual, ideological. These representations informed the visual culture leading to a particular discourse. The installation proposes a reflexion about the way different elements associated with a particular territory shape this territory's landscape, giving it a dynamic existence, a product of cultural activity.

How We Hear and Experience Classical, Computer, and Virtual Music

This chapter examines occurrences and events associated with the experience of composing, playing, or listening to music. Discussion of popular music and computer music begins the chapter, including issues pertaining the tuning systems, digital interfaces, and software for music. It then recounts an experiment on the nature of pitch and psychoacoustics of resultant tones.

Expressive Avatars in Psychological Intervention and Therapy

A wide range of applications for virtual humans can be envisaged for the needs of both research and intervention in Psychology. This chapter describes the development and preliminary testing of an interactive virtual reality application “Virtual Spectators” – whereby virtual humans with expressive behaviour modelled on the basis of field research in human facial expression in real emotion contexts can be configured to interact with people in an interview or jury. We discuss the possibilities of this application in cognitive behavioural therapy using virtual reality and in nonverbal behaviour.

Cognitive Learning Through Knowledge Visualization, Art, and the Geometry of Nature

Scientific modeling applied to the study of a mineral structure at the unit level provides a fertile ground from which to extract significant representations. 3D graphics visualization is equal part mathematics, geometry, and design. The geometric structure of 52 minerals was investigated in a specific modeling program to find if meaningful visualization pertaining to the field of art can be extracted from a mathematical and scientific resource. Working with the lines, spheres, and polygons that define crystal at the nanoscale provided the author with an exceptional environment from which to extract coherent visualizations sustainable in the art environment. The results were tested in various interactive platforms and opened a larger debate on cross-pollination between science, humanities, and the arts. Additionally, the experiment provided new ground of investigation for unexpected connections between mathematics, earth sciences, and local cultures.

Leveraging Computer Interface to Support Creative Thinking

How to design computer interface that facilitates learners' creative thinking can be challenging. This chapter discusses the cognitive processes, the types of divergent thinking, visualization, and brain-functions in relation to human learning. Informed by the research in previous areas, the authors examine the features of computer interface that aligns with brain-functions to support various types of creative thinking. An example is included to demonstrate, at the conceptual level, how computer interface can be leveraged to support learners' creativity, imagination, originality, and expressiveness in learning. Discussions are made with respect to the implication and limitation of the chapter. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research and studies.

Dialogue With Interfaces

This chapter grapples with the hegemony of the visual and its pervasiveness in current urban installations. It discusses how technology and the visual are fetishized instead of used in their dialogical potential to engage people in socio-spatial transformation. This chapter presents the trajectory of the Graphics Laboratory for Architectural Experience at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil (LAGEAR) in its theoretical and practical development. This chapter then discusses LAGEAR's main drives, which are the playful interaction, the distinction between interface, and interaction and dialogue, in order to create interactive interfaces that actually engage people in socio-spatial transformation. It presents examples of the authors' works, drawing from visually based to bodily engaging and socio-political installations. Discussion concerns the problematization that leads to the need of engagement rather than the bodily engagement. Emphasis was put on working with the socio-spatial context and proposing interfaces that take into account the process in its openness and indeterminacy instead of prescribing a product (even if an interface-product).

Creating Characters for Various Interfaces

This chapter is focused on the theme of creating characters for visual storytelling discussed in practical, theoretical, and historical terms. The description includes a discussion of artistic forms acting as characters for telling stories, various meanings conveyed by characters in semiotic terms, the creating of characters by drawing, and then a set of learning projects follows, on creating characters for various interfaces.

Approach to Minimize Bias on Aesthetic Image Datasets

Over the last few years, numerous studies have been conducted that have sought to address automatic image classification. These approaches have used a variety of experimental sets of images from several photography sites. In this chapter, the authors look at some of the most widely used in the field of computational aesthetics as well as the capacity for generalization that each of them offers. Furthermore, a set of images built up by psychologists is described in order to predict perceptual complexity as assessed by a closed group of persons in a controlled experimental setup. Lastly, a new hybrid method is proposed for the construction of a set of images or a dataset for the assessment and classification of aesthetic criteria. This method brings together the advantages of datasets based on photography websites and those of a dataset where assessment is made under controlled experimental conditions.