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Eben Myers & Santosh Mathan - Building Robot Factory: A Game Design and Brain Science Collaboration

Presenters: Eben Myers, Vice President of Design, Simcoach Games Santosh Mathan, Research Scientist, Honeywell Labs Developing a cutting-edge brain training game with backing from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) requires major collaboration from all stakeholders. This session will reveal the research and design behind “Robot Factory,” a joint effort between Honeywell, Simcoach Games, and Harvard, Northeastern and Oxford Universities.

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Eben Myers & Santosh Mathan - Building Robot Factory: A Game Design and Brain Science Collaboration

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  1. BUILDING A Game Design & Brain Science Collaboration Serious Play Conference July 22, 2015 Eben Myers Santosh Mathan

  2. Introductions Eben Myers VP, Design Simcoach Games Santosh Mathan Principal Scientist Honeywell • BA in Studio Art from Swarthmore College • Research at the intersection of Neurotechnology and HCI • Masters in Entertainment Technology from CMU • Interest in enhancing training, performance, and safety in aviation • EPO for NASA • PhD in HCI from CMU • 10+ years designing games • Prior roles at NASA Ames and Microsoft 2

  3. FAST: Flexible, Adaptive, Synergistic Training Harvard Site Visit

  4. IARPA’s SHARP Program 4

  5. Executive Functions and ARP • EF moderate complex tasks (Elliott, 2003) : - Solving novel problems - Modifying behaviors in light of new information - Generating strategies - Sequencing complex actions • ARP crucially tied to EF - overlap in core computational properties (Diamond, 2013) - Neural correlates (e.g. DLPFC) (Duncan et al., 2000; Barbey et al, 2012) 5

  6. Executive Functions: Component Processes • Updating: updating and monitoring working memory representations • Switching: shifting between tasks or mental sets • Inhibition: suppression of stimuli and responses that are unrelated to the task Diamond, 2013 Miyake, 2000 6

  7. Enhancing Executive Functions: Promise, Pitfalls • Training and practice have robust and predictable impact - Skills improve – following power law function - ARP can be strengthened through training (Carlson, 1990; Mackey, 2011) • Limited generalization: - Acquired skill highly specific - Limited evidence for near or far transfer • By nature ARP must be domain general and widely applicable 7

  8. FAST Training: Implications • Train component processes as cognitive skill • Combine processes, in novel ways, with range of operations (logical relational), and cognitive domains (symbolic, visual) • Create rich, but systematically mapped training space • Promote flexible encoding by changing instructions every few trials - Rapidly encode instructions (Salthouse & Pink, 2008) - Flexibly configure cognitive resources (Duncan et al., 2012) - Strong activation of regions implicated with ARP (Dumontheil et al., 2011) 8

  9. Intervention 1 - FAST Training: Implications • Train component processes as cognitive skill • Combine processes, in novel ways, with range of operations (logical relational), and cognitive domains (symbolic, visual) • Create rich, but systematically mapped training space • Promote flexible encoding by changing instructions every few trials - Rapidly encode instructions (Salthouse & Pink, 2008) - Flexibly configure cognitive resources (Duncan et al., 2012) - Strong activation of regions implicated with ARP (Dumontheil et al., 2011) 9

  10. Collaborators 10

  11. FAST - Intervention 11

  12. FAST: Level 1 12

  13. FAST: Level 2 13

  14. FAST: Level 3 14

  15. FAST: Level 4A 15

  16. FAST: Level 4B 16

  17. Gamification • Engaging isomorphs of FAST • Everyday processing demands • Immediate feedback • Goal-directed practice • Self-motivating demands 17

  18. tES • Augment activity of cortical substrate supporting EF using tES • Distributed fronto-parietal network: DLPFC, ACC, LPC - DLPFC: connectivity with sensory motor regions, maintaining rules for action, and guiding response selection and inhibition - ACC: detect processing conflict, engaging DLPFC - LPC : Stimuli salience, stimulus-response pairings • tES to act synergistically with training to boost core ARP processes 18

  19. Intervention 2: tES • Augment activity of cortical substrate supporting EF using tES • Distributed fronto-parietal network: DLPFC, ACC, LPC - DLPFC: connectivity with sensory motor regions, maintaining rules for action, and guiding response selection and inhibition - ACC: detect processing conflict, engaging DLPFC - LPC : Stimuli salience, stimulus-response pairings • tES to act synergistically with training to boost core ARP processes 19

  20. Causal Mechanism • Learning is the development of new neural connections • Connections are formed through synchronized recruitment • Anodal stim has depolarizing effect of resting potential of neurons – making it easier for neural cells to fire • Synergistic interaction with training to boost efficacy of core ARP processes 20

  21. Empirical Validation – Stages and Objectives • Assess game implementation of FAST • Test procedures Pilot Study 1 • Test expanded FAST game • Assess stimulation types Pilot Study 2 • Demonstrate efficacy of intervention (FAST + stimulation) Pre T&E Evaluation 21

  22. 1A Demographics 22

  23. Pre T&E Fluid Intelligence Results tRNS+FAST p-value .051 .275 .448 Gf Measure b Cohen’s d .424 .164 .136 BOMAT Sandia Raven 1.417 1.400 0.473 23

  24. Video Demo • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdhKR0g3bhc 24

  25. Process: What Worked & What Could Have Been Better

  26. What Worked •Iterative design and development process •Communication •Personnel 26

  27. Iterative design & development process • Iterative design - from research to 3 concepts to one 27

  28. Iterative design & development process • Regular, frequent releases of game Stage Project Kick-Off High Level Design Complete First Playable Proof-of-Concept Build # Date 1/29/14 2/18/14 3/3/14 1 28

  29. Proof-of-Concept 29

  30. Iterative design & development process • Regular, frequent releases of game Stage Project Kick-Off High Level Design Complete First Playable Proof-of-Concept On-Going Weekly Builds 4 Major Releases (for Experimental Data Collection) 1A-1 1A-2 1A-3 1B Build # Date 1/29/14 2/18/14 3/3/14 1 9 4/18/14 6/25/14 9/23/14 3/9/15 20 25 34 30

  31. Mature Game 31

  32. Communication 32

  33. Communication • 2 weekly meetings 33

  34. Communication • Structuring of the abstract games 34

  35. Communication • Structuring of the abstract games 35

  36. Communication • Structuring of the abstract games 36

  37. Communication • Structuring of the abstract games 37

  38. Communication • Structuring of the abstract games 38

  39. Communication • GitHub releases and integrated issue tracking 39

  40. Personnel • Attitude: - Respectful - Collaborative - Honest and critical 40

  41. Personnel • Inclusion of research engineer on Simcoach dev team 41

  42. What Could Have Been Better • Building the airplane while flying 42

  43. What Could Have Been Better • Building the airplane while flying • Building the experimental rocket while launching into space… 43

  44. What Could Have Been Better • More focus on QA 44

  45. What Could Have Been Better • More time to respond to feature requests 45

  46. Summary of Takeaways • Iterative design and development process • Communication • Personnel • Planning 46

  47. Questions? @santoshmathan @honeywellnow @ebenmyers @simcoachgames 47

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