Digitizing archetypal human experience through physiological signals

198 Pages·2017·5.88 MB·English

Digitizing archetypal human experience through physiological
signals
Citation for published version (APA):
Ivonin, L. (2014). Digitizing archetypal human experience through physiological signals. [Phd Thesis 1
(Research TU/e / Graduation TU/e), Industrial Design]. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven.
https://doi.org/10.6100/IR772052
DOI:
10.6100/IR772052
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Published: 01/01/2014
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DIGITIZING ARCHETYPAL HUMAN EXPERIENCE
THROUGH PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNALS
leonid i ivonin
.
Ivonin,LeonidI.
Digitizingarchetypalhumanexperiencethroughphysiologicalsignals
/Eindhoven:EindhovenUniversityofTechnology,2014
AcataloguerecordisavailablefromtheEindhovenUniversityofTech-
nologyLibrary
ISBN978-90-386-3600-9
NUR984
Keywords:Affectivecomputing/Psychology/Archetype/Modeling
/Psychophysiology/Unconscious/Emotion/Machinelearning
Latextypesettingandcoverdesign:LeonidI.Ivonin
Reproduction:GVODrukkers&VormgeversB.V.
Copyright©2014byLeonidI.Ivonin
DIGITIZING ARCHETYPAL HUMAN EXPERIENCE
THROUGH PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNALS
proefschrift
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de
rector magnificus prof.dr.ir. C.J. van Duijn, voor een
commissie aangewezen door het College voor
Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen
14 2014 1600
op woensdag mei om : uur
door
Leonid Igorevich Ivonin
geboren te Lyubertsy, Rusland
Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotoren en de samen-
stellingvandepromotiecommissieisalsvolgt:
voorzitter: prof.dr.ir.A.C.Brombacher
1e promotor: prof.dr.M.Rauterberg
2e promotor: prof.dr.A.Català(UniversitatPolitècnicadeCatalunya)
co-promotor: dr.W.Chen
leden: prof.dr.M.Díaz(UniversitatPolitècnicadeCatalunya)
prof.dr.ir.L.M.G.Feijs
prof.dr.-ing.J.Ziegler(UniversitätDuisburg-Essen)
This dissertation was produced under Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate
Program in Interactive and Cognitive Environments. The research was
conducted towards a joint double PhD degree between the following partner
universities:
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN
UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE CATALUNYA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This PhD Thesis has been developed in the framework and according
to the rules of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate on Interactive
and Cognitive Environments EMJD ICE [FPA n° 2010-0012] with the
cooperation of the following Universities:
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt – AAU

Queen Mary, University of London – QML

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven – TU/e

Università degli Studi di Genova – UNIGE

Universitat Politècnica Catalunya – UPC

According to ICE regulations, this PhD Thesis has been awarded also
of Italian PhD title by the Università degli Studi di Genova.
SUMMARY
digitizing archetypal human experience through physi-
ological signals
The problem of capturing human experience is relevant in many ap-
plication domains. In fact, the process of describing and sharing in-
dividual experience lies at the heart of human culture. Throughout
the courses of our lives we learn a great deal of information about
the world from other people’s experience. Besides the ability to share
utilitarian experience such as whether a particular plant is poisonous,
humanshavedevelopedasophisticatedcompetencyofsocialsignaling
thatenablesustoexpressanddecodeemotionalexperience.Thenatu-
ral way of sharing emotional experiences requires those who share to
be co-present during this event. However, people have overcome the
limitation of physical presence by creating a symbolic system of rep-
resentations. This advancement came at a price of losing some of the
multidimensionalaspectsofprimary,bodilyexperienceduringitspro-
jectionintothesymbolicform.Recentresearchinthefieldofaffective
computing has addressed the question of digitization and transmis-
sion of emotional experience through monitoring and interpretation
of physiological signals. Although the outcomes of this research rep-
resent a great step forward in developing a technology that supports
sharingofemotionalexperiences,theydonotseemtohelpinpreserv-
ing the original phenomenological experience during the aforemen-
tioned projection. This circumstance is explained by the fact that in
affective computing the focus of investigation has been aimed at emo-
tional experiences which can be consciously evaluated and described
byindividualsthemselves.Therefore,generallyspeaking,applyingan
affectivecomputingtechniqueforcapturingemotionsofanindividual
is not a deeper or more precise way to project her experience into the
symbolic form than asking this person to write down a description of
heremotionsonapieceofpaper.Onecansaythatsofartheresearchin
affectivecomputinghasaimedatdeliveringtechnologythatcouldau-
tomatetheprojectionbutithasnotconsideredtheproblemofimprov-
ing the projection in order to preserve more of the multidimensional
aspects of human experience. This dissertation examines whether hu-
man experience, which individuals are not able to consciously trans-
pose into the symbolic representation, can still be captured using the
techniquesofaffectivecomputing.
First, a theoretical framework for description of human experience
which is not accessible for conscious awareness was formulated. This
framework was based on the work of Carl Jung who introduced a
vii
model of a psyche that includes three levels: consciousness, the per-
sonalunconsciousandthecollectiveunconscious.Consciousnessisthe
external layer of the psyche that consists of those thoughts and emo-
tionswhichareavailableforone’sconsciousrecollection.Thepersonal
unconscious represents a repository for all of an individual’s feelings,
memories, knowledge and thoughts that are not conscious at a given
moment of time. The collective unconscious is a repository of univer-
sal modes and behaviors that are similar in all individuals. Accord-
ing to Jung, the collective unconscious is populated with archetypes.
Archetypesareprototypicalcategoriesofobjects,peopleandsituations
that existed across evolutionary time and in different cultures. When
anarchetypebecomesactivatedandisexperiencedbyaperson,itwill
resultinacomplexinthepersonalunconscious.Acomplexintheper-
sonal unconscious is a conglomeration of emotions and ideas that are
specific to the person and are product of the archetype. In this thesis,
theunconsciousexperiencethatisrelatedtoarchetypeswasdefinedas
the archetypal experience. It seemed reasonable to begin our inquiry
into the digitization of the unconscious human experience with con-
sideringtheproblemofrecognizingthearchetypalexperiencebecause
archetypesaresupposedtobecommonamongindividuals.Moreover,
theyprovideaconvenientwaytoconceptualizetheunconsciousexpe-
rience.
Having defined our theoretical framework we conducted an experi-
ment where visual and auditory stimuli from standardized databases
for elicitation of conscious emotions were demonstrated to subjects.
Apart from the stimuli for conscious emotions, the subjects were ex-
posed to stimuli that represented the archetype of the self. During
presentation of the stimuli cardiovascular signals of the subjects were
recorded.Theexperimentalresultsindicatedthatheartrateresponses
oftheparticipantswereuniqueforeverycategoryofthestimuliinclud-
ingthearchetypalone.Thesefindingsgaveanimpulsetoperforman-
other study where a broader spectrum of archetypal experiences was
examined.
In our second study, we made a switch from visual and auditory
stimuli to audiovisual stimuli because it was expected that videos
wouldbemoreefficientinelicitationofconsciousemotionsandarchety-
palexperiencesthanstillpicturesorsounds.Thenumberofarchetypes
was increased, and overall, subjects were stimulated to feel eight var-
ious types of the archetypal experience. We also prepared stimuli for
consciousemotions.Inthisexperiment,physiologicalsignalsincluded
cardiovascular, electrodermal, respiratory activities and skin tempera-
ture.Thestatisticalanalysissuggestedthatthearchetypalexperiences
could be differentiated based on the physiological activations. More-
over, several prediction models were constructed based on the col-
lected physiological data. These models demonstrated an ability to
viii
classify the archetypes with an accuracy that was considerably higher
thanthechancelevel.
As the results from the second study suggested a positive relation-
ship between the archetypal experience and activations of physiolog-
ical signals, it seemed reasonable to conduct another study in order
toconfirmthegeneralizabilityofourfindings.However,beforeanew
experiment started it was decided to build a tool that could facilitate
collection of physiological data and recognition of the archetypal ex-
perienceaswellasconsciousemotions.Suchatoolwouldhelpusand
other researchers in conducting experiments requiring interpretation
of physiological signals. Our tool works on tablet computers and sup-
portscollectionandanalysisofdatafromwearablesensors.
Thelaststudywasconductedusingsimilarmethodologyasthesec-
ond experiment with several modifications that aimed at obtaining
more robust results. The effort of conducting this study was consid-
erably minimized by using the tool we developed. During the experi-
mentwemeasuredonlycardiovascularandelectrodermalactivitiesof
the subjects because our previous experiments showed that these two
signals contributed significantly to the classification of the conscious
emotions and the archetypal experience. The statistical analysis indi-
cated a significant relationship between the archetypes portrayed in
the videos and physiological responses of the subjects. Furthermore,
using data mining methods we created prediction models that were
capable of recognizing the archetypal experiences with the accuracy
that was lower than in the second study but still considerably higher
thanthechancelevel.
Finally, we bring the results presented in this dissertation together
andarguethatourfindingsuggestapossibilityofcapturingthearchety-
palhumanexperiencethroughphysiologicaldata.Ourworkprovides
abasisforfutureresearchintheareaofaffectivecomputingthatcould
continueexplorationofthehiddendimensionsofhumanexperience.
ix