Future and Emerging Technologies - ChronoPilot

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Introduction

The FET-OPEN project “ChronoPilot – Modulating Human Subjective Time Experience” is a multidisciplinary project that aims to control the plasticity of human time perception by delivering stimuli via mediated-reality technology into the human’s senses of vision, audition and haptics. The consortium consists of 5 universities and is coordinated by prof. Argiro Vatakis (Panteion University, Greece). It will run from September 2021 until September 2025.

Project description

Time has an important role in human life, but it is a remarkably subjective experience. When we are extremely busy or trying to meet a deadline, time feels compressed. This in return leads to even more stress. Conversely, time might feel stretched when we are bored which could yield danger of attentional lapses and even depression in the long run.

The perception of time involves complex interactions between neural, informational and social systems. Unlike other perceptual dimensions, we do not possess a sense organ specifically dedicated to time, and our perception of time is subject to a number of psychological influences. ChronoPilot’s novel paradigm is that the subjectivity of time can be changed to our advantage at any moment.

ChronoPilot will control the plasticity of human time perception by delivering stimuli via mediated-reality technology (head-mounted displays, gloves, vests) into the human’s senses of vision, audition and haptics. The proposed technological breakthrough to purposefully manipulate subjective time relies on a set of cognitive approaches, which are based on findings in both neuroscience and psychology to tune time experience.

Objectives

These are the objectives of ChronoPilot:

  • Model the dynamics of human subjective time in terms of psychological key variables
  • Modulated time perception by auto-triggered sensory stimuli
  • Coordinate time perception in human and hybrid collectives
  • Evaluate if time can be utilized to improve well-being and productivity in hybrid and human collaboration

Role of Ghent University

  • Development of a computational model of time perception, integrating physiological and sensory data
  • Development of a decision module that determines the timing, intensity and sensory channel of modulating stimuli to alter the subjective time experience
  • Integration of the model in a consortium-wide prototype
  • Evaluation of the model in two realistic environments

Website

ChronoPilot

Contact

Prof. Pieter Simoens
Department of Information Technology (INTEC)
Phone number: +32 9 331 48 78
E-mail