Understanding mind, brain and behavior through constructing synthetic perceptive, emotive and cognitive systems

The laboratory for Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems - SPECS - uses synthetic methods to study and synthesize the neuronal, psychological and behavioural principles underlying perception, emotion and cognition. The synthetic approach of SPECS combines real-world systems, such as robots, virtual reality systems and interactive installations with anatomically, physiologically and behaviorally constrained computational models. It is in this constructive approach that we retain a system’s view on mind, brain and behaviour. Moreover, this approach directly gives rise to novel brain based artefacts and these synthetic perceptive, emotive and cognitive systems in turn can provide novel technologies for real-world problems including the enhancement of the quality of life.

Our activities are organized around three complementary dimensions: 1) theoretical cognitive-neuroscience, 2) biologically based real-world systems and 3) brain repair and quality of life technologies. In short SPECS is based on the notion that understanding the mind and brain means that we can synthesize and repair it.

• 20080310: We are in Nature news: Robots inspired by moths, locusts, flies and swifts will take to the sky this week in an international competition for micro aerial vehicles in Agra, India. www.nature.com/news/2008/080310/full/news.2008.659.html
• 20080101: SPECS@IUA has a new home: We are now on the Campus de la Comunicació (Ca l'Aranyó) in the Edifici La Nau building
• 20071026: re(PER)curso at Art Futura (www.iua.upf.es/repercurso).
• 20070928: The synthetic oracle makes it debut at the landing of Asimo in Europe: www.iua.upf.es/activitats/syntheticOracle/
• 20070711: SPECS is presenting re(PER)curso: a mixed reality performance in the MACBA www.iua.upf.es/activitats/concerts/rePERcurso/index.htm).
• 20070622: 35 students have pre-registered for the new interdisciplinary master program "Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media" (www.iua.upf.es/csim).
• 20070528: How can robots help us to understand biological systems? A look at odor localization in the male moth. www.eucognition.org/wiki/index.php
• 20070501: Paul Verschure has been appointed as director of the institute of Audio-visual Studies (IUA) (www.iua.upf.edu)
• 20070304: Our large-scale neuronal systems simulator iqr is now availabe as Open Source software: iqr.sourceforge.net
• 20070209: The world's first mixed reality multi-player game runs in XIM
• 20070207: SPECS hosts the PRESENCCIA Pong hacking fest
• 200702: SPECS runs its annual Sumvitg Brain and Cognition workshop
• 200702: The master program "Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media" is accepted by the generalitat
• 200701: Armin Duff shares the best presentation price at euCognition event
• 200612: SPECS installs its unique human accesible mixed reality space or "eXperience Induction Machine" (XIM)