> We observed a statistically significant difference (p =.048) in terms of changes in anxiety between the groups who heard two different rates of breathing.<p>Studies with p-values that close to .05 never replicate. Likely p-hacking.<p>> With high precision and fast speed temperature sensor, Masque detects the user's breathing activities and plays back a <i>mediated breathing</i> sound synchronously through a bone conduction headphone. The <i>medicated breaching</i> sound is real-time synthesized, thus its breathing rate can be modified by the user at any moment.<p>I just find this typo amusing
Wow can’t tell anything about subject of the piece, but as at as design goes it is an almost 100% rip off of Miriam Simin’s “Agalinis Dreams”. Incredible that MIT would let this kind of thing happen.<p>Here is an image of the work I mention - happened to see it in NYC in person a while back, it was working with the sense of smell too, so, looks like subject matter is also uncomfortably close
<a href="http://www.arts.uci.edu/event/embodied-encounters" rel="nofollow">http://www.arts.uci.edu/event/embodied-encounters</a>
Combine this technique with something like this: <a href="https://www.medgadget.com/2014/06/mits-wifi-system-detects-peoples-breathing-heart-rate-even-through-walls.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.medgadget.com/2014/06/mits-wifi-system-detects-p...</a><p>and we can start modifying people's responses to any ads or other media that has audio. Just pipe in fake respiratory signals under the source audio and boom, that car ad really got your heart racing.
> Can Masque manipulate people?
> No, not entirely. Masque causes cognitive bias in people's behaviors.<p>So, no manipulation, just an effective sugestion that changes behavior. {/sarcasm}
So this was created by MIT students? Geez...<p>> When the body senses itself internally and localizes its actions, it provides the basis for a material sense of self-existence. At the same time, the mind registers the sense of an agency with free will, the sense of being, the cause of voluntary action.<p>After reading these first two sentences I thought this was supposed to be a parody or somesuch thing.<p>> The design of Masque draws inspiration from Italian carnival masks. For critics of Commedia dell’Arte, there was a direct connection between covering one’s face and hiding one’s heart. [...] The visual design implies the inherent tension between self-control and self-disguise in the device.<p>Yep, art project gone haywire. This apparently is part of some strange armchair psychology/human biology Master's thesis: <a href="https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/114069" rel="nofollow">https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/114069</a><p>The design of the mask does look intriguing though!
The interesting part is that what is hacked is the <i>external</i> feedback loop between breathing and perception. The loop through the acoustic channel, likely completely different from whatever way(s) you have to internally perceive your breathing. But apparently the brain does not trust only the internal sources, and correlates them with an independent channel of sorts.
sci-fi story scenario:<p>they install it in babies and never really tell them about what it is and does.<p>edit: obviously a sleeker version directly integrated into the body.