Neural Ghosts and The Focus of Attention
Symposium:
- ISEA2011: 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art
- More presentations from ISEA2011:
Session Title:
- NeuroArts
Presentation Title:
- Neural Ghosts and The Focus of Attention
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Panel: NeuroArts
Consciousness as attention to memory is a term that neuroscientist Eugene Izhikevich uses to describe a phenomenon in which the cortex re-lives or re-visits a specific pattern of neural activity in the absence of sensory information. The model brain or cortex, deprived of stimulation, journeys around its own temporal architectures conjuring past ‘experiences’ or ‘memories’, pulling them into the present. Evidence that these pathways continue to be re-visited once stimulation occurs again is compelling. Referring to recent research in developing the sonic artwork Ghost, and two earlier works: Threshold and The Fragmented Orchestra, all of which have at their core the Spike Timing Dependant Plasticity model of Eugene Izhikevich, I will discuss the phenomena of ‘sonic ghosts’ a term I have used to describe the buffering up of the neural past with the neural present.